Hydro-Thunder Dragon Slayer
by Hydro-Thunder Dragon
Summary: Drue is the Thunder and Water Dragon Slayer, hence Hyrdo-Thunder Dragon slayer, and is a rather content member of Fairy Tail, but will his journey with Natsu and the others change him? And what is he hiding from Wendy that he doesn't want to admit? Takes place between Nirvana and Edolas arc. First Fan-Fic. Some mention of NaLu, Gruvia, GaLe, and RoWen.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

A new-found peace had settled in Magnolia. It had been 2 weeks since Laxus's rebellion against Fairy Tail, and the town was in a state of peace and quiet. Well… Most of the town. Fairy tail was having their daily brawl and celebrating for Natsu and the others for destroying Nirvana. Also bringing two new members, Wendy and Carla. Natsu, Gray and Elfman were having their usual fight in the middle of the guild hall.

"Get out of my way, Flame-Brain!" Gray yelled.

"Shut up, popsicle!" Natsu retorted as he punched him in the gut.

"MAAAAN!" Elfman screamed, just before he was knocked out by the both of them.

All the girls were just sitting at a table away from the mini-rampage talking amongst themselves.

"Lucy-san, is the guild always like this? This is the fourth battle today." Wendy had asked. Wendy and Carla had been in the guild for over a week and are first getting a taste of daily Fairy tail life.

"Yeah, It gets annoying at first, but you eventually get used to it. I got accustomed to it in the first month of being in the guild." Lucy had said.

"These men are pathetic; They don't know when to restrain themselves at all! All they do is fight, scream and fight. Bunch of idiots." Carla had stated.

"Oi Carla!"

"It's okay, Wendy. That's the usual impression people get from the males of our guild. Isn't that what you thought when you joined Juvia? Juvia?" Levy was asking.

"Ohhhhh, Gray-sama, so perfect….. and naked!" Juvia whispered as she was gawking at a stripped Gray.

All the girls sweat dropped.

"Well, she's in her uh…. 'trance' so she won't be able to answer you right now, I guess." Lucy said.

"Oh, I have to go to the restroom. I'll be right back." Wendy said.

Wendy had stood up from her chair and began to head towards the restroom. But as she turned around to walk, she bumped into a sturdy figure and was knocked down onto the floor. She shrieked out of surprise and the guild had immediately become silent. Wendy was taken back at first, but now she looked up to see whom she hit. All she saw was a short man with a mask glaring at her.

"Ah, Gomenesai!" Wendy had managed to muster.

"Hmph, you should watch where you're going . Not taking into consideration of those you could possibly bump into will cause them to dislike you in an instant." Mask said as he grabbed Wendy and helped her stand back up.

**Wendy's P.O.V**

This man had helped me stand back up and to my surprise, he was only maybe a couple inches taller than me. And by the sound of his voice, he must have been in his late 40's maybe? I guess the old generation must be getting really short, like the master, huh? Ohhh, what am I thinking? It's rude to think like that! He is a short man with a black long-sleeved top that covers his neck. He had purple pants with armor shin-guards and black boots. He wore a purple mask that covered his face and the top of his head. The mask had a black lightning pattern and two eye holes that revealed two very nice dark-green eyes. I couldn't see any pupils, which was kind of odd, but I shrugged it off.

"Uh. I'm really sorry." I said bowing to him profusely,with a slight tear in the corner of my eye. He must have noticed this because his body looked like he relaxed.

"It's fine. Just be careful." He said as he began to walk towards the bar.

"Hai"

I didn't need to go to the restroom any more and sat back down. All the girls and everyone else were looking at me until Natsu-san continued the fight. As the guild was thrown into chaos again. The girls were looking at me with sympathy. They began asking if I was okay.

"I'm okay. I was just caught off guard, that's all….Um who was that person? I don't think I've seen him since I joined." I asked.

"That was Mask." Erza-san had answered as she came from God knows where.

"Mask?" Both Lucy-san and I said. Erza looked at Lucy-san with slight astonishment.

"Oh, that's right, you haven't seen him either too Lucy. Well, Mask is one of the more….. mysterious ones of our guild, like Jella- um Mystogan. No one besides the master knows who he could possibly be, so we just call him 'Mask' for now. His magic is also a slight mystery. I myself have not seen him actually utilize any form of magic, nor has anyone else. That's what really concerns me about him." She finished as she began to focus on her train of thought.

"You don't think he could a danger to the guild now, do you?" Lucy asked.

"For the moment, no. He's been a member for two years now and has done nothing to provoke a possible threat. But I'm still cautious of him."

"Erza-san, I'm sure he's not dangerous; he's probably just misunderstood, maybe?" I said.

"Probably, but Wendy, I don't want you to interact with him, nor do I want you to be around him." Carla ordered.

"Oi, Carla"

"I don't think that'll be an issue" Erza said," He rarely interacts with anyone, other than the Master, and that was the most I've seen him talk to a guild member when he talked to you, Wendy. He's reclusive, so he's not a bother to anyone."

"Oh." I said. That's kind of sad.

**Mask's P.O.V**

I could over-hear Erza-san talking and enlightening that girl about me, but obviously, there wasn't much for her to tell. I soon found way around the brawl to the counter/bar. I saw that Mira-san was working there as usual. She saw me and and walked over to me.

"Good morning Mask-san, It's rare to see you here. Would you like anything or is it your usual order of nothing?" Mira asked. I simply just looked at her with a blank look( as if she could see it) and got the hint and walked away. Soon the Master had occupied the seat next to me and he began conversing with me.

"Mask" The master began," Don't you think you should have apologized to her for knocking her down? You were at more fault for not being careful yourself." The master said.

"No. Um, Master." I said.

"Yes?"

"When I bumped into her, I sensed an odd magic emanating from her. What's her magic?" I asked.

"She utilizes Dragon Slayer magic. She is the Sky Dragon Slayer and uses Healing magic. Her name is Wendy Marvell." He said.

I was actually quite surprised to hear this. I turned my head to look at her again.

_Her? I….I can't belive it. So…you joined this guild huh? Great…this is only going to put a much larger hindrence in my plans. _I thought as looked back toward Makarov.

From appearances alone, that girl doesn't seem like she could do much. Let alone be a slayer. But I shouldn't be one to talk. My natural appearance would mislead many people of my nature as well.

"Master."

"Yes?"

"They'll be here soon today. Those two will arrive, and I my endeavor will soon begin." I informed.

The Master gasped." Hmmm. I didn't think they would arrive so soon. Do you still want me to do my part, like we discussed last week?"

_Flashback_

"_Alright. Now, tell me exactly why you entered my office. I know you don't want to be here for long and risk being seen by anyone." Master began._

"_Right. Master, as I told you two years ago: They will arrive soon in the upcoming weeks, just as Poryushika foretold, and my concern lies with the other guild members. Knowing them, they attempt to intervene and possibly delay my mission. I ask of you to prevent any of the members to get involved,"_

"_mmmm" The master had began to think this over," some of our members, especially Natsu, would love to be involved in your "goal" and that would prove disastrous for them. I'll try to stop them, but given the fact they're Fairy Tail, there is no guarantee I can" The master stated._

"_But if these two are as powerful as you first claimed them to be, then why don't you want the assistence of the others?"_

"_This guild is quite boisterous and ravenous when it involves fighting, and I acknowledge some of their capabilities. But, I want to handle them by myself to satisfy a part of my vendetta. I know it would be rather difficult to keep some of the members at bay from a fight, especially Natsu-san, but I have to be the one to take care of them."_

"_But if they are as powerfull as you claim they are, won't you need some assistance?"_

"_Like I said, I don't want to put the other members in harms way. So please, do what you can to stop them."_

"_Alright, I'll try."_

End of Flashback….

"Yes, Those two were very powerful years ago, but now I don't know how much they have improved, so it's best to keep the guild at bay when I deal with them."

"Understood" the Master said.

At that moment, the guild hall doors were kicked open. I turned around and saw two men standing at the door. The commotion of the guild had stopped, and they were looking at them as well. I soon stood and said," It's time." I said menacingly.

**Master's P.O.V**

I could feel an immense amount of dark aura around Mask. I don't know what's going to happen, but I know there will some interesting revelations about you, Mask. But please, don't cause too much damage.

**AN: So, what do you think and who do think Mask might be? Please Rate & Review. This is my first fan-fic so please, an help would be nice.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

"Alright, Tak, start surveying the room and interogate everyone. I'll stay here to prevent anyone from leaving." A man with short, navy-blue hair and a large scythe commanded.

"Alright, Dan." Tak had agreed. Dan was a tall, reasonably built pale man with navy-blue hair, black eyes, a scar along his left cheek. He was wearing absolutely nothing from the waist up, but was wearing baggy dark-blue pants with a black waist belt and black sandals. His scythe was a classic scythe made entirely out of metal and was six-feet long with a blade about three-feet long. Tak was also a tall, well built man. He had an even skin-tone and wore a small black vest with a intricate water design, white baggy pants with a black belt and grey boots. He has short blonde hair, brown eyes and a beard.

"Oi, who are you? You suddenly barge in our guild and then start , huh?" Erza demanded an answer.

"Hmm" Dan was looking Erza up and down and said," Well, well, we have a hottie here don't we Tak."

"Stay focused on your duty, Dan, we're not here to attract flimsy women-

"NANI!" Erza yelled. Natsu and Gray were trying really hard to restrain Erza from lunging at the man to kill him.

"-we're here to find that little punk and bring him back to the Site." Tak finished, ignoring the death threats being discharged from Erza. He was at the table where the girls were sitting at and finished looking at Levy.

"Hm, you're no fun at all man, and to answer your question little girl, we're here to find somebody important with valuable information." Dan finished. Erza had drawn her sword and itching to impale both of these men. Gray had already been knocked out and Elfman had to step in and was screaming "OTOKO" repeatedly.

Tak was now evaluating Wendy. He immediately knew she was obviously not who they were looking for, but he was quite interested in her. He grabbed her face and started turning her head to see every angle of her(**AN: this is not the inappropriate instance that some of you may be thinking about**)**. **He then got a wicked smile creep up on his face. Wendy immediately began to whimper under the man's gaze.

"HEY, get your hands of her, you rapscallion!" ordered Carla.

"Hey, Dan, didn't the boss say we required some spares back at the site?" Tak asked.

"Yeah, he did. He said we were losing a large portion of our 'work force' by the day because they were unhealthy or weak, and we need to resupply." Dan said as a sadistic look appeared on his face.

Tak then grabbed Wendy by her neck and threw her at Dan. Dan had narrowly caught her and held her arms behind her back to prevent her from resisting and escaping. Carla had instantly tried to fly to Wendy to rescue her, but Tak punched her in the face, sending her crashing into the wall unconscious. Makarov could hear Mask growl profusely at the sight of this display.

"CARLA!" Happy screamed and tried to fly to her, but Tak did the same thing to him.

"HAPPY, no!" Natsu yelled. "You bastard, you barge into the guild and begin hurting my nakama? Now, here I come." Natsu soon engulfed both of his hand in his flames and lunged towards Tak. "IRON FIST OF THE FIRE DRAGON!" He tried to punch him, but Tak engulfed his right arm in water and blocked his attack with ease.

"Is this all you've got?!" Tak questioned as he released a burst of water at Natsu, sending crashing into Erza and Elfman. " Too easy." Tak then gasped as he saw Natsu suddenly come at him again with more ferosity.

"Don't underestimate me!" Natsu yelled as he punched Tak and caused him to be forced back at the entrance. Tak growled at him with pure anger. He was about to attack him again, but Dan stopped him by putting his scythe in Tak's path.

"Hmph, didn't you just say to focus on _my_ duty?" Dan asked," I got this." Dan then pointed his scythe at Natsu. He began to charge blue electricity in the handle of his scythe. Natsu had also began to charge his attack at released it first.

"Fire Dragon Fang!" Natsu yelled as directed and enormous stream of flames at Dan.

"Thunder Strike." Dan plainly said as a concentrated stream of blue electricity dissipated Natsu's flames and hit him.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Natsu screamed in pure agony and soon dropped to the floor.

"Natsu-san!" Wendy yelled, but Dan tightened his grip to cause her scream and then to keep quiet.

"Seriously?! My flames had no effect? But my flames are the best."

"Those were pathetic excuses for flames, weren't they?" Dan asked.

Mask had decided that he stood by long enough and began walking towards Dan, along with Erza. This soon caught his attention, and Dan brought his scythe down near Wendy's neck. Both of them instantly stopped in their tracks.

"uh, uh ,uh." He said mockingly, "Come any closer and this girl will be nothing but a mere corpse." Wendy had immediately started crying out of pure fear.

"This is just wonderful, isn't it? A girl's cries of terror. It's just so….. invigorating HAHAHA!" Dan began licking his lips in pure delight.

"You definitely have not changed at all, Dan." Mask plainly said.

"Huh? You know me?"

"It has been quite a long time since we've last seen each other, you bastard."

Tak had diminished his power and began to stare at the masked man before him with curiosity and interest. The entire guild was now interested as well because the most mysterious man in the guild was speaking to these unknown assailants as if they were old acquaintances. Now, what caught there attention the most was Mask reaching for the knot at the back of his head which held the infamous mask to his face. Eventually, he undid the knot and slowly removed the mask with his left hand clasped around the front. What was under that mask was what no one, other than the Master, expected. A young looking, teenage boy with radiant blonde hair, that resembled Gray's, with his previously mentioned dark-green eyes and light-colored skin. Since he appeared to be young, his face was still not as slim as an adults(**AN: like future** **Romeo**). The entire guild hall merely just stood there in shock. They couldn't believe that such a young child was under the mask. On the other hand, Tak and Dan started laughing at the boy.

"There he is! There is the person we've been searching for." Dan announced," Man you sure have grown…Drue."

"No duh, Dan. Nine years does that to a child." Drue said coldly.

"We've been searching for ya' all this time. What you did all those years ago really pissed off the boss and us. You could not understand how much all of us want to end your very existence, but we apparently still need you for our job." Tak spat at the child.

"I feel the same way about you two, but my mission really doesn't concern either of you, only _him._ Now, release the girl, tell me where the new site is, and no permanent harm will be dealt upon you." Drue suggested.

Both the men began laughing hysterically at the so-called "threat".

"Ohoho, that's just hilarious. Looks like you either finally got some backbone, or you have become even more foolish. If you want your girlfriend back, then come and get her!" Tak tempted.

"Alright, Since you want to play it that way, fine, let's 'play'." Drue said menacingly.

**AN: I know it was kind of obvious who he was, but I lack in creating suspence. Please Rate & Review. **


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

Drue had started walking towards Dan and Tak. Dan decided to play along with what he thought of as game. He brought the blade of his scythe towards Wendy's neck again. But unlike the previous time, Drue did not stop. Dan was taken aback by how Drue didn't falter, but he didn't lose his composure.

"Oi, like I said before, continue coming towards me, and I'll kill this brat. I know you don't want that, Drue, so just comply with us and I'll let her go." Dan threatened. Drue still continued walking.

"Hm, I guess he's become not only foolish, but indifferent to his so-called guild members as well." Tak commented.

Some of the other members were actually now screaming at him to stop. They obviously didn't want Wendy to die, just when she joined the guild.

"Oi, what are you doing?! Stop, or else you'll get her killed!" Natsu yelled.

"Mask, stop NOW!" Erza demanded as she drew her sword and pointed towards him.

"Shut Up." Drue announced coldly. Erza was so angry at this comment, that a vain began to bulge on her forehead and steam was coming from her ears. Some of the members literally slid back to avoid Erza's rage.

"It appears you don't have a shred of concern for this girl's life, so I guess she's expendable!" Dan said as he drew back his scythe, ready to kill the pathetic girl in his grasp. Wendy Shrieked in pure terror, waiting for the inevitable. "NOOO!" the entire guild screamed.

"WENDY!" Both Natsu and Gajeel Screamed.

*CRACKLE*

*CLANK*

**Wendy's P.O.V**

I waited for the blade to slit my throat and end my existence. I was bawling my eyes out to the point where tears weren't coming out, but after a couple of seconds, nothing had happened. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Mas- I mean Drue-san standing beside me. I could see that he had managed to block the scythe….with his bare fist! I was relieved, but when saw the dark look on his face and an ominous aura surrounding him, I was instantly put back in a state of fear. I have never seen such a look on someone in my entire life.

**Normal P.O.V**

The entire guild hall had once again become silent. They were all, even Erza and Master, were surprised that Drue had covered some distance and blocked Dan's attack in an instant. Tak was in complete disbelief at what he just saw. so was Dan.

"H-how..did…you just do that? That's impossible." Dan couldn't even muster any words.

_What just happened? Did Mask just cover that large of a distance that fast. I couldn't even see him move. _Erza thought.

"Awe-awesome." Natsu managed to break the silence.

Drue then pulled a kunai with a 5-inch blade with his left hand swiftly and directed his left arm towards Dan's right hand. In an instant, he had cleanly sliced his hand holding Wendy and gave her the opportunity to escape.

"AHHHHHH!" Dan screamed as his lifeless hand fell to the floor. Wendy had seized the opportunity to run and ran over to Levy. She was holding the the traumatized child in her arms to comfort her.

Just as Dan was about to collapse, Drue out-stretched his thumb, index and middle finger, while his ring-finger and pinkie held the kunai in a back-hand grip, and set his hand directly in front of his chest.

"Double-Layered Circle…Sonic Blast!" Drue yelled as a powerful vortex of magic was shot at Dan, causing him to be blasted outside the guild and crashing into the tables in the café.

"AHHHHHH!" Dan yelled as he grasped his arm in agony while laying in the debris.

"DAN! You little…EAT THIS! WATER STRIKE: 50 STRIKES" Tak yelled as he engulfed his arms in his water.

Tak had hit Drue with the corresponding amount of hits, which made him lose his balance and stumble two steps backward.

"HA!" Tak exclaimed. But his momentary sense of satisfaction ended when he saw Drue simply smirk. He attempted to repeat the attack, but Drue merely dodged and grabbed his arm, used it as support, and kicked Tak into the café, crashing into Dan. Drue landed back on both of his feet and began walking toward the two injured men.

"Wow! Wait! I want to fight that water-bastard!" Natsu yelled as he began to sprint outside.

"NOOO!" The Master yelled as he used his magic to enlarge his arm to crush Natsu.

"Gramps, what are you doing? I want to fight those two bastards too." Natsu whined while he still was under the Master's fist.

"This is not your fight, Natsu! It's his. Do not intervene unless you want to risk your own safety!" The master scolded Natsu. The entire guild was surprised at the Master's sudden outburst, but they complied with his request. But they still all started running outside to see the fight. Once they got outside into the café, they could Drue still continueing to walk towards the injured men.

"Save yourselves the embarrasment and just tell me where it is. Unless you want to truly suffer my wrath, I would advice that you do." Drue threatened.

Dan and Tak were now growling at the kid. They were obviously pissed.

"Dan, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll manage for now. Damn, how the hell did he do this?!" Dan winced. He wrapped his hand with a piece of fabric he tore from his pants to stop the bleeding. Drue merely gestured his hand for the both of them to come at him.

"You're going to regret that, you little prick!" Dan yelled," Thunder Shower!"

"Water Explosion!"

Two large arrays of thunder and lightning were shot at Drue with such high velocity.

"Three layered Magic Circle…Mirror Water!" Drue proclaimed as he raised his hand in front of his body. The attacks were not only deflected, but they ricocheted back at the two men. Unfortunately, the two men had managed to overtly dodge the returned attack. Their attacks had impacted the place they once stood and caused a rather large explosion. The explosion and shockwaves had blown the surround gates, cobblestones, and a few members away.

"THAT'S IIIIITTTTTTT! I'm done being made an insignificant fool of by this brat! THUNDER COMET, HEAVONLY DESTRUCTION!" Dan roared as he shot an immense blast of his lightning at Drue. The attack was so fast that Drue couldn't dodge it. The attack had already created a small crater, but was still drawing on.

"You IDIOT! We were to bring him back alive! He's no use to any of us as a corpse. Do you have any conceived idea on what the boss will do to us?!" Take scolded Dan.

"Crap! I Let my anger take control of my actions, again. But that kid deserved it for slicing my hand off!" Dan retorted.

"Damn it….well we can't return empty handed. Go grab that girl and let's go!" Tak continued.

"Fine."

Wendy began to tighten her grasp on Levy. Natsu and Gajeel and jumped in his way to prevent him from taking her. Dan had began to charge his scythe, ready for another two to add to his victims.

*WARBLE*

A sudden noise had caught his attention and made him look back at his previous attack. He was at a loss for words when he saw his attack diminish. At the epicenter of the attack, Drue was consuming the lightning until it was completely gone.

"Man, I figured your thunder would taste awful, but that*gag* was just disgusting." Drue said. His right sleeve was now torn off and had some cuts along his exposed arm.

"What in the….h-he ate my t-thunder?" He stammered in disbelief.

"Don't tell me….he's a…..a" Natsu muttered

Drue had instantly appeared in front of Dan before he could even see it.

"HUH?!"

"THUNDER DRAGON FANG!" Drue had punched him with a high concentration of blue lightning on his fist.

"A DRAGON SLAYER!?" Wendy exclaimed.

**xXx**

"Another Dragon Slayer?" Natsu asked.

"Yes." Master answered as he walked out, stopping right next to Natsu.

"Gramps, why didn't you tell me about him? He could know where Igneel is. Why didn't you tell me!" Natsu hissed.

"Because, he didn't want to be too involved with anyone here, so he ordered told me not to inform anyone."

"But Master, um…how could he also be that young? He sounded like an old man a moment ago, now he sounds like any other boy his age." Wendy said a slight blush crept on her cheeks.

"That was nothing but a mere act. Just to mislead every one of you. Now, just watch." Master said.

"Ahh.." Wendy started trailing

**xXx**

Drue had punched Dan to where he was launched into the air. Dan had dropped his scythe and it skid over to the main door-frame. Drue immediately teleported above him and kicked him down to a smashing thud on the ground.

"Dan! Take this!" Tak yelled as he launched his right fist toward the boy, but Drue was finished screwing around. He pulled out his kunai and sliced Tak's arm in half.

"AHHHHHH!" Drue then grabbed his head and forced him down so he could knee him in the face. Then Drue grabbed his neck and brought his face under his gaze.

"Now, Die." Drue proclaimed. He began to charge an attack of a different nature.

"WATER DRAGONS ROAR!" Drue roared as a direct impact of his attack hit Tak, sending him flying and colliding into the wall. Tak's now lifeless body layed next to the entrance. Dan was barely able to stand back up as he watched Tak be terminated.

'*pant**pant* I'll….. kill…..yo-" Drue didn't let him finished as he kicked him into the gate and punching him in the gut. Dan coughed up some blood as he was trying to cope with the pain.

Drue grabbed his neck and began choking him. "Now, where is the new site? This will be the last time I'll ask you, and if you don't tell me, I'll make sure you feel every nerve in your body scream as I tear you limb from limb." Drue hissed as he charged his thunder. For the first time, Dan was beginning to tremble under his dark gaze.

"P-please, don't do this, please," His voice was trembling as well," If I tell you, will you let me live? Please, don't kill me." Dan begged. Drue just nodded.

"It's 267 miles west of Mt. Hakobe. It's a five day journey from here. If you enter an area with the terrain having nothing tree stumps and ash substituting the soil, then you'll be close. Just follow the sound of clanking medal. Also, you'll see smoke rising into the sky, follow that too." Dan managed to explain. Drue stood up and started walking away but stopped. He turned around, raised his hand towards Dan, and started charging an attack.

"W-wait you said you would let me live!"

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't say for how long." Drue said as he blasted his thunder at Dan.

"AHHHHHH!" Dan was completely incinerated by the strike. All that was left was a small pile of ash. The entire guild couldn't even utter a single word. He just killed him without a shred of mercy. Drue began walking away, ignoring all the stares he was receiving. As he was exiting the premises, he spoke:

"Wendy, go heal your cat and Happy. Master, I'll return within the hour." Drue started walking down the streets of Magnolia until he was out of sight.

"Alright everyone, let's clean this place up." Master ordered.

"Alright." They agreed. Only Natsu and Gajeel remained where they were standing. They were obviously in deep thought about what just happened.

_Thunder and Water…._They both thought.

**AN: So what you guys think? Was the fight ok(I'm not very good at fights).**

**Please Rate&Review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It had been only half-an-hour since the confrontation with Drue and his enemies. The guild was making progress in repairing the minor damages set upon the guild. Some of the guild members were also being treated for their minor wounds for being caught in the crossfire, and the girls were comforting Wendy since she had nearly died. Levy and Lucy were giving her hugs and comforting pats to try and calm the girl, and they were successful.

"Wendy, are you sure you're alright? You can go home and try to alleviate some of the stress by taking a nice, long bath." Lucy suggested.

"No, it's fine, Lucy-san. Besides, Drue-san said he'd return soon, and I want to see him." Wendy said.

"NO, I refuse to let you see that troublemaker. He nearly got you killed, and you still want to see him?!" Carla had yelled as Levy was applying bandages to her head. Wendy had healed both her and Happy when Drue left, and were still slightly injured.

"Carla, he's a Dragon Slayer, like me, and could know where Grandeeney is. I have to talk to him about this." Wendy said with a surprisingly stern tone," Besides, he saved me. He probably didn't intend for me to get caught."

"I think she should, Carla. We may not know much about him, but he could possibly hold some information about everyone's dragon." Happy tried to persuade Carla to reconsider.

"Stay out of this, He-cat!" Carla screamed.

"Aye! I'm sorry." Happy apologized as he receded back from her rage.

At this moment, Erza and Natsu had returned from delivering Tak's corpse to the church.

"We're back, Master." Erza announced.

"Welcome Home." Master replied as he chugged down a cup of alcohol.

"Master, has umm..uhhh…" Natsu was struggling to remember his name, but a light bulb went off, "Has Drue come back yet? I want to talk to him." Natsu said.

"No. It's possible that he decided not to return and went on ahead for his mission."

"Natsu!" Happy screamed as he flew over to his friend.

"Happy. Are you okay?" Natsu asked as he embraced his companion.

"YEAH! Thanks to Wendy. She's great."

"Ah, Thanks Wendy." Natsu said.

"I-it was no problem, Natsu-san. Heeheee." Wendy was flustered due to her timid nature.

"So. What's the church going to do with that guy's body? Cremate it, possibly?" The Master asked.

"Yes, they were reluctant to take such a dismembered man, but since they recognized us as Fairy Tail, they eventually agreed. We also took the other man's scythe down to the local blacksmith to be used for other purposes." Erza informed.

"Alright, that's good."

"Master" Natsu suddenly said," Why did you hide the fact that he was a Dragon Slayer from us? Especially me? What was so important that it discouraged you to tell me?"

"Like I said," He doesn't want to be too involved with anyone". Besides, even I don't know some of much about his true intentions. He only told me about one instance in his past, and how those two would appear here today. Nothing more." Master said. Natsu merely growled out of frustration.

The doors of the guild were then opened revealing Drue. He had some different apparel on him this time. He was still wearing his long, purple pants with armor shin-guards, black belt, and black boots. But he was now wearing a skin-tight, long-sleeved white shirt with no collar. Above that shirt was a closed black vest with white trims. He also had black half-finger knuckle gloves with a wide metal plate on his backhands. On the back of his shirt was a Yin-Yang symbol(**AN: Keep this in mind. This will be important for a possible sequel to this story)**, and he was wearing a thin-chained necklace with circular silver pendent with a transparent jewel in the center(**AN: My sense of matching colors is awful, isn't it?)**. He was also carrying a concavo-convex silver shield strapped to his left arm.

"I'm back, Master." Drue dryly said.

"I can see that. Why did you come back? Don't you want to quickly start your mission?"

"Yes, but I came here to pay for the damages and support the guild. Here's 600,000 jewel." Drue said as he pulled out the money, without a consideration what he said. The master had spit his beer out onto the floor while some of the members fell over out of shock. Drue merely looked from side-to-side, wondering what he said to cause this.

"That's a little much now, isn't it?" Mira said as she stood back up, dusting off her dress.

"Not really, Mirajane-san. It's the least I can do for the trouble I caused." Drue simply answered. Drue had turned his head to look directly at Wendy as he handed the hyperventilating master the money.

"Wendy, are you alright?"

"H-hai, I'm okay, Drue-san. T-thanks fo-for your c-concern." Wendy managed to answer. Drue nodded his head. "What about you Happy, female-cat? I'm sorry you were injured on my fault."

"It's Carla, and I'm fine. Stay away from Wendy" Carla spat at the boy.

"Oi, Carla!" Wendy whined.

"AYE, I feel much better." Happy cheerfully said.

"Um…Drue-san?" Wendy began. Drue stared at her. Wendy became weak-kneed under his gaze." Umm, I just wanted to thank you for saving my life and….umm… Never mind." Wendy sat down.

"Alright, I'll be taking my leave now, Master. Farewell." Drue said as he began to walk out of the guild. Natsu on the other hand wasn't going to let him leave and jumped in front of Drue, blocking his path.

"Natsu-san? What is it?" Drue asked. Not fazed in the slightest. Natsu didn't reply and just stared into Drue's eyes. Eventually, both Slayers were having a little stare down, and the guild was awaiting to see who would at least say something. The tension between the two had began to bring a tense feeling in the atmosphere, and after what seemed like an eternity, Natsu opened his mouth to say something. The guild members simultaneously leaned in to hear what was going to be said. Natsu inhaled a sharp breath.

"FIGHT ME!" Natsu yelled with his signature grin. The entire guild fell over in exasperation.

"Huh?" was all Drue could say.

"Natsu, are you kidding us, you made us fall over just for that?!" Gray yelled at the Fire Dragon.

"Natsu-san." Wendy simply said in a 'good grief' tone.

**AN: Sorry for the short chapter. Please Rate and Review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Huh?" Drue asked.

"I said FIGHT ME!" Natsu yelled at the boy. Natsu was literally jumping in his spot out of pure excitement," What you did to those guys was just AWESOOOOME, little brutal, but AWESOME! You're really strong for a kid; just fight me!"

Drue was surprised about his head-on approach to him. He assumed that Natsu would just constantly pester him about the where-abouts of his dragon, the other's dragons, and how he learned Dragon Slayer magic himself, but boy was he wrong. Everyone else though were actually annoyed by this.

"Hey, Flame Brain, we just figured this guy was a kid, he killed two opponents you couldn't fight, and you think you have a chance against him? Did you hit your head this morning, or are you just more stupid than I thought you were?" Gray yelled from across the guild hall.

"What was that you bastard!" Natsu retorted. Drue quickly grew tired of this display of stupidity. He started to walk around Natsu and walked at a faster pace to prevent another stupid setback, but that didn't work either. Gajeel was the one who stopped Drue this time and also had his signature grin plastered on his face.

"For once, I agree with Salamander. I want to fight you too, kid, but I want you to go all out with me. I won't go easy on you." Gajeel stated. Drue was becoming increasingly annoyed at all of this. He looked towards the Master for some support, but he was currently occupied with the money in his hands to even try to stop them. Drue actually sweat dropped at this moment. _So I basically wasted my time with the old man, huh? _He thought.

"So? Come on, LET'S DO IT!" Natsu screamed. Gajeel had nodded his head in agreement, but stopped immediately after realizing one idiotic thing: _He_ is going to fight him first!

"Oi Salamander, I'm fighting him first; You'll go after me!"

"What was that, Gajeel? I didn't quite here you. Say that again you prick!" Natsu and Gajeel had collided their foreheads together and you could physically see the electricity exchange between their eyes.

*sigh*" It looks like Natsu-san and Gajeel-san are going to be the ones fighting instead." Wendy said.

"Even though they confront a new Dragon Slayer, they still manage to fight amongst themselves and try to pulverize each other. Erza, what do you take of all this? Erza?" Lucy looked towards where the female in question once stood, but now saw her in front of Drue.

"I challenge you" Erza blaintently said to the kid. Drue had lost part of his composure and had his shoulders fall forward. He couldn't believe this crap was happening to him.

"I can't believe this crap is happening. It's been what half-an-hour since you guys saw who I am and already starting to pick fights with me? What am I, a practice dummy to these guys. I would expect this show of behavior from these two, but you Erza-san? I thought you more mature and composed than this." Drue plainly stated. Erza actually looked away in embarrassment at the comment," Wait, I'm astonished that I even stayed here this long. I'm leaving." As Drue was making his third attempt to leave the guild, he felt a hand grab his shoulder. Acting on impulse, he grabbed the person's hand and flipped the assailant over his head and crashing into the floor in front of him. It, of course, was Natsu. By the look on his face and everyone else's', they weren't expecting that to happen.

"Whoa, now I really want to beat you. Come on, fight me!" Natsu whined at the Drue. Drue was just now pissed off, and he could hear Gajeel charge up an attack.

"Alright, listen, you better not be thinking about-"

"IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!" Gajeel had sent a vortex of his breath at the boy. Drue managed to block the attack, but the momentum of it caused him to be pushed outside into the cafe. Also, the attack had narrowly missed an enraged Natsu, but he decided to brush it off and join the fight.

"FIRE DRAGON'S DAZZLING BLAZE" Natsu had shot a large focused shot of fire at Drue. Drue had quickly blocked the attack with his hand. The attack merely divided into smaller streams that went around him.

"Come on, I don't have time to waste here. Just stop these feeble attacks and let me leave." Drua demanded. The guild members now were all starting to gather outside to watch the day's second epic fight.

"Feeble?!" Gajeel asked as he quickly flanked the kid and charged yet another attack, Drue was actually caught off guard and let himself be foolishlessy open.

"IRON DRAGON'S SLAYING ELBOW!" Gajeel had hit Drue in the back and sent him flying into the gift shop stand nearby. The force had caused a minor explosion, and Drue was laying down into the debris. Drue was slowly getting up and had a vein bulging from his forehead and a shadow enveloping his eyes.

"Alright, I'll play along. THUNDER DRAGON'S ROAR!" Drue fired an immense vortex of his blue lightning at both Natsu and Gajeel. They countered the attack by firing their own roars. When all three had collided, Drue's was surprisingly over-whelming Natsu and Gajeel's, but they increased their powers to prevent that from happening. Suddenly, Drue's breath was beginning to weaken and eventually completely disappeared, leaving him vulnerable to an attack. But Drue was not where he once stood by the time the fire and iron breaths hit his location.

"Huh? Where did Drue-san go? He was just right there." Wendy said as she and the other girls were trying to find him.

"What? Where'd he go? Did you see him?" Natsu asked. Gajeel obviously had no idea where the kid ran off to. _Damn it, don't tell me that kid ran off. What a wuss…_Gajeel thought, but a sudden snap behind them caught both Dragon Slayer's attention.

"THUNDER DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" Drue yelled as he charged a large concentration of lightning in his left arm. He instantly struck Natsu and sent him flying into the sky.

"WAAAAAAAH!" Natsu yelled as he was launched high into the air and a twinkle appeared as he disappeared from sight.

"Natsu-nii!" Romeo yelled. Gajeel had changed his left arm into a medal column and swung it at the kid, but he a managed to grab the end with his hand. Drue then engulfed Gajeel's iron in his water and it instantly began to rust. Drue began to bend and crumble his arm as if it was nothing.

"WHAT! NO WAAAY!" Gajeel yelled in denial as he saw his 'almighty' iron being destroyed.

"WATER DRAGON'S SWORD HORN" Drue said as he head-butted Gajeel with his water, sending him crashing into the tables. Natsu also had finally crashed down, but onto Gajeel.

"I think I have satisfied your hunger for a battle with me, so now can I leave?" Drue asked. Both Dragon Slayers instantly shot up at the question, Their faces were red with fury.

"Absolutely not, I HAVEN'T BEATEN YOU YET!" They yelled at him. The spectators were actually enjoying the fight, and Cana started her usual bets on who would win. Everyone was betting on Drue.

"Come on, place your bets on the kid and watch Natsu and Gajeel get their asses handed to them!" Cana yelled as she was consuming her usual barrel of alcohol.

"My bet's on Drue." Lucy said as she handed Cana 1,000 jewel. Same as Juvia, Levy, Gray and Wendy.

"ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUS? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SUPPORT US, NOT HIM!" Both Natsu and Gajeel yelled at their so-called friends.

"Sorry Natsu, but this appears to be a one-sided carnage!" Lucy said with a cheesy grin plastered on her face and rubbing the back of her head. Same with Levy.

"Yeah, Fire-Breath, I know you are pathetic, but this is just sad and hilarious. I can't pass up a chance to make a few jewels." Gray said. Juvia appeared right next to him.

"Gray-sama is right. Sorry, Gajeel-kun, but I'm going with Drue-kun, right Gray-sama." Juvia swooned over him. Gray was not enjoying this and began to run back into the guild hall to escape her. Juvia was trailing him yelling at him to accept her 'love'.

"Yeah, Natsu, you're not going to win." Happy said as he handed Cana 40,000 jewel.

"HAPPY?!" Natsu yelled at his companion.

"For the love of whatever almighty power is up in the heavens, can I just please leave?" Drue asked. Everyone responded by screaming _NO!_. They obviously didn't want to lose all their money to Cana.

"That's it. Come at me kid!" Gajeel gestured the boy with his hands. Drue had drawn his shield and threw it at Natsu. It made contact with his head and ricocheted towards Gajeel. But he had managed to grab it and evaluated the quality of it.

"Hm. Never seen this kind of medal before, I wonder how it taste." Gajeel said as he took a large bit out of the shield. But this apparently was not the smartest thing he did. The moment he did that, Drue had a couple veins bulge out from under his eyes and was powering up. The guild became silent as they felt an immense amount of pressure emanating from him. Gajeel soon dropped his bitten shield and stood there in utter disbelief of the power he was feeling.

"That was a big mistake….Gajeel….san." Drue said in a deep growl.

"What….. what is this pressure?" Gajeel's voice was trembling. Drue then charged at him in a blink of an eye, tackling him to the ground and repeatedly punching him in the face.

"You….little…..insignificant…SCRUUUB!" Drue yelled in between all his electrically charged punches. Gajeel's face was becoming increasingly bruised and soon blood began dripping from his mouth and nose.

"Drue, STOP!" Natsu commanded as he tried to pull the boy off, but Drue punched him with one blow and sent him crashing in the guild doors.

"NATSU!" Happy and Lucy yelled as they, along with Gray and Juvia, ran to attend to him. Drue was continuing his assault on Gajeel, and everyone could visibly see that Gajeel was near losing his grasp on consciousness. Erza had ran over and had a good hold of the boy as she was trying to pull him off, but it was apparently futile as he was still beating the living hell out of him. Also, Drue was conducting a current of electricity through his knees to bind him to the ground, so yeah he was not coming off. Drue then drew back his fist and charged a large amount of his power. Gajeel couldn't do a thing and prepared himself for the possibly fatal strike. Drue launched his fist to perform the final strike.

"HYUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Drue roared.

"DRUE-SAN STOOOP!" Wendy shrieked. Something had snapped, and Drue's fist stopped a few inches away from Gajeel's face. Drue had slowly looked up to where his eyes caught Gajeel's. He soon came to the realization of what had transpired. He jumped up, realizing he lost control of himself (again) and started to look at all the other guild members. They just stood there with shock and cold sweats. He then looked at Wendy, and saw that she was crying. He knew he caused her to cry because of what he just did. Drue suddenly started to have some flashes and grabbed his head.

"**NOOO, DON'T KILL HER, KILL ME!"**

"**SOLAR!" Drue yelled, "You SON OF A-"**

"**We will meet again, and next time, you shall watch all those you love suffer before you." A dark figure said. **

**A boy was crying over the corpse of someone.** **(AN: these were all different instances.)**

The flashes had instantly stopped just as they came. Drue was now sitting on the ground hyperventilating, a cold sweat running down his face. He settled his forehead in the palms of his hands and was trembling in his spot.

**Wendy's P.O.V**

I was crying again. Jeez, I'm pathetic, but Drue-san was about to severely hurt Gajeel-san or possibly kill him. I don't understand. Drue-san didn't want to do anything involving this fight, then he was starting to incapacitate Gajeel-san, and now he was on the ground shaking and breathing rapidly. This seriously raises the question: what exactly did he do to even cause those two guys to arrive here in the first place? I wiped away the tears on my face and in my eyes and ran over to Gajeel –san to heal him. I outstretched my hands and started to heal him. The color started returning to his face and his injuries were completely gone. He stood back up and grunted, indicating he was okay. I stood up as well and cautiously made my way over to Drue-san. By the time I was standing next to him, he stopped shaking, but he still had his head in his hands. I crouched down and gave him s light pat on the back. He turned his head to look at me for a second then instantly got up.

"I'm sorry." He said. He didn't wait for my response and walked over to where his damaged shield was. He picked it up and simply looked at it. He took a deep breath and just walked off.

"That kid sure knows how to throw a decent punch." Gajeel-san stated as he wiped the old blood from his face.

"That was…..unexpected." Erza-san said.

"Wendy-nee, are you okay?" Romeo said as he lightly tugged on my dress. I looked down and gave him a small smile," Yeah, Romeo-kun." He had a cute blush on his cheeks as he smiled back.

"WAIT! We didn't ask him about our dragons." Natsu-san yelled as ran away.

"Natsu! Wait for me!" Happy yelled.

**AN: So, what did you guys think? Any areas of needed improvement? Please Rate&Review.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

The entire guild was absolutely astonished not only by the fight that had just happened, but the amount of money they all earned from the bet. Every member was purchasing more beer and playing darts. Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy and the rest of the main protagonist were sitting at one table.

"Jeez, all I did was take one bite from his stupid shield, then he goes ballistic on me. I'll give him credit though, he is very capable." Gajeel said as he rubbed his jaw. Levy was looking at him with great concern but looked away when he looked her way.

"That was very surprising. Drue knows how to throw a mean right hook." Natsu commented as he rubbed his abdomen. Natsu had returned to the guild with his backpack, ready to go.

"Whatever his age is and magic capabilities, he is definitely more powerful than most of the guild members. Maybe he's even more powerful than you Erza." Gray added.

"NO." Erza said menacingly with a dark aura around her. Everyone else sweat dropped and didn't bring up that subject again.

"Okay, but why did you think he snapped when Gajeel ate his shield?" Happy said.

"Well if we knew that you wouldn't have to ask now would you, he-cat?" Carla spat at him.

"Carla be nice." Wendy said. Carla merely just responded with a 'hmph'. "Something else has been bothering me too. After he stopped he suddenly dropped to the ground and started shaking. Something is definitely troubling him, and it must have something to do with what those two guys said when they got here. They said he did something that agitated them. Do you think what he did is bothering him now?"

"That could be some-what of an explanation. But without any evidence, we can't really say that's a definite conclusion." Levy said.

"Why don't we just ask him?" Natsu asked.

"Well, Natsu-kun, we can't just ask him to reveal every detail about his past. That would be just rude and insulting to him." Juvia answered. Everyone else nodded.

"Well, I still want to ask him about Igneel and the other dragons. He could know where they could be, and I want to know how he learned to use Dragon magic." Natsu said.

"He could be long gone by now, Hot-head. It would be impossible to locate him. Even though we know where he's going, he could knock us out and leave again." Gray said.

"I don't care. Besides *sniff, sniff* I can smell him. He's at Hargeon train station, so we could catch up to him now if we hurry." Natsu suggested.

"You can smell him from all the way here?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, now that you mentioned it, I can smell him too. He smells like the ocean." Gajeel stated.

"Natsu-nii!" Romeo yelled as he ran over to their table," can you help me with my homework? I can't solve this problem." Romeo handed over the paper. The problem involved strategic application to apprehend an anarchist in an abandoned facility surrounded by thousands of guards. They were ordered to eliminate all guards in less than a period of twenty minutes without notifying anyone, and must develop an effective method to do so.

"Whoa, you're getting assignments like this in your class. What's wrong with your teacher?" Natsu screamed as he read the problem.

"Well, she wants to prepare us for reality, but that class is mostly focused on those who are fixated on becoming Knights. This is actually from an operation that was carried out by six people three years ago. She wants us to develop an effective method to see if it works and find if it's more effective. She said rumors have it only one out of the six people made it out alive, but they didn't find him, so they assume he's dead as well." Romeo said. Everyone at the table looked dumb-founded at the problem.

"I think the rumor is false. They said that the group was an elite regiment of the council, so I doubt their dead.

"Romeo-kun, she expects you to figure out what they did in one night. You're class is just a bunch of kids." Wendy said.

"Yeah, Wendy-nee, everyone literally paled when she said she wanted us to do it, but she said that we would get points for trying." He said with a slight blush along his cheeks. Wendy giggled at this, causing him to look away.

"Well, at least you're trying, but we can't help you. Besides, we are going on a little mission right now, so we need to prepare." Erza said.

"Is it about Drue-nii?" Romeo asked.

"Yeah."

"'Drue-nii'? Why are you calling him that?" Natsu asked as he was trying to pull Erza so they could go, but she just punched him in the gut instead.

"Well, even though he's the quiet type, He's really strong and cool. I want to kind of be like him, 'power-wise' I mean."

"Alright, let's hurry up." Erza ordered.

"FINALLY!" Natsu screamed in satisfaction.

"Alright, have fun!" Romeo said as he ran over to his father.

**xXx **

Drue was sitting in one of the seats in the terminal at Hargeon station. The train had experienced technical difficulties, and they had to delay departure time. Drue was repeatedly tapping the heel of his foot out of impatience. _How long does it take to repair a damn engine?!.._Drue thought.

"Come on, I want to get out of here before-"

"OI, DRUE!" Natsu yelled.

"Crap." He whispered to himself. He looked over his shoulder to see Natu, Gajeel, Wendy, Erza, Gray, Juvia, Lucy, Happy, and Carla running over to him. He sighed as he picked up his shield and tried to evade them, but he wasn't fast enough. They all stood in front of him.

"What are you guys doing here?" Drue asked.

"We want to come along with you." Natsu said enthusiastically. Everyone else nodded in agreement. Drue on the other hand was not pleased with this.

"No, You're not coming." Drue said coldly.

"Why not?" They all asked.

"What I'm trying to accomplish is very dangerous, and I don't want to risk your lives, so you're staying here."

"I don't think so kid. You already failed at that when you were pummeling me half-an-hour ago. Besides, there are a few things we'd like to ask you." Gajeel said. Drue looked away.

"Sorry about that, I lost my control there." Drue apologized.

"It's fine. Wendy here healed me back to full health." Gajeel said as he patted the girl on the head.

Wendy gave a light chuckle out of embarrassment.

"You're still not coming along." Drue said. Erza acted out of the ordinary and punched the kid upside the head. Everyone else's eyes bulged and gasped at what she did. Drue regained his composure while grabbing his head. He had a questionable look plastered on his face.

"What the heck was that for?! Ow." Drue asked in a little bit of pain.

"We're coming along with you whether you like it or not." Erza said. Unbeknownst to the rest, she hit him to fulfill her own desire. She wanted to show a slight display that she was slightly stronger, but I think slapping him out of nowhere doesn't do justice like that.

"I said no. I think I made myself quite clear when I killed those two and pummeled these two." Drue said pointing to Natsu and Gajeel. They had veins bulging from the side of their foreheads.

"Drue-kun, I think it would best if you stopped resisting and putting yourself at more risk of getting hit." Lucy said. Drue gave her a dark look.

"Shut…up." Drue said coldly. Lucy was surprised at this response.

"Oi, don't talk to her like that kid. Didn't anyone teach you to be respectful of your elders?" Natsu said with a ticked expression. Drue simply walked over to him to where he was only an inch away from him.

"What are you going to do about it, huh?" Drue teased. Natsu started charging his flames and Drue charged his lightning," You wanna go for round two?"

"Natsu, stop this childish display." Erza commanded as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Natsu turned his head to retort, but she had a look on her face that just dared him to say one more thing. Natsu retracted and exhaled a sharp breath.

"**We apologize for the delay. The train departing for Chi mania is now boarding." The P.A speaker said.**

"It's about time." Drue said as he was leaving, but Gajeel jumped in his way again. Drue started to growl but stopped himself from losing his composure again.

"Like we said, we're coming along with you." Gajeel stated. Drue was in no mood to tolerate this again, but he saw that the train was ready to leave and didn't want to miss it.

"Ugh, fine do what you please, but just stay out of my way." Drue said as he and everyone else ran to the train and boarded. The ticket cashier took the tickets Drue handed him and they took their seats in the last cart.

**AN: Sorry for the short chapter. I just wanted to get this part out of the way. Please Rate & Review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The train ride had been relatively quiet, initially. Drue was still rather fumed at the fact that everyone had decided to come along and not heed his various warnings. They had decided to let the adolescent calm down and just started to talk amongst themselves until Drue was ready to talk.

"AHHHH….. " Natsu groaned as he was suffering through his severe motion sickness…again.

"Jeez, you're pathetic, Hot-head. When are you actually going to man up and overcome this childish problem." Gray insulted. Natsu lifted his finger and opened his mouth to say something, but he fell to the floor and was on the verge of barfing.

"Wendy, could you please cast Troia on him before he makes the aisles inaccessible with his lunch?" Happy asked as he was eating his usual meal of raw fish. Wendy nodded and extended her hand towards Natsu. A light-blue light appeared in her hands as she cast the spell. Natsu had regained his color and was energetic as always.

"What was that Gray?" Natsu asked as he grabbed Gray.

"You wanna go!?" Gray said. They both began to charge their attacks until Erza intervened. She pushed them at their heads.

"Will you cease this at once!" Erza yelled with a slight red, demonic glint in her eyes.

"H-Hai!" Both of them agreed with fear in their voices.

"And Gray…"

"Yeah?"

"Put your clothes back on." Erza sighed. Gray gasped as he realized he was only in his boxers and tried fruitlessly to fight his clothes.

"ERZA-SAN, Why did you say that?! Juvia wants Gray-sama to stay like that!" Juvia screamed as she was crying. Everyone else sweat dropped.

"Hmm. Why is there no one else in the cart besides us?" Wendy asked as she looked around the entire cart. Everyone looked at Drue. He was sitting alone in the seats across the aisle and got the obvious indication and answered.

"The reason why there isn't anyone else here is because this ride is going to last until tomorrow morning, and I wanted to be left _alone_ with my thoughts the entire time, so I purchased all the tickets for this cart." He said. Everyone was surprised by what he just said.

"UNTIL TOMORROW?!" Natsu screamed as he tried to escape the train, but Gajeel held him back.

"Wait. You bought all the tickets!? Jeez, where did you get the money to pay for all of that?" Gray asked the boy as he found his jacket from over the over-head cabinet.

"Well, I usually take advance request and S-class request. The income I earn from many of them would provide substantial funds to sustain an entire village for years. Basically, I earn a lot of money." Drue explained.

"But what about you're rent and food?" Lucy asked. Drue simply ignored her question. He didn't even bother looking at her to acknowledge her question. Lucy's face dropped a little, and was kind of hurt and offended by this. Natsu noticed her sudden change in personality and frowned. Natsu was about to say something, but Erza beat him to it.

"Oi, she asked you a question. It's polite and common courtesy to answer your elders when they ask you something." Erza scolded the boy.

"Whatever." Drue replied as he looked out the window to observe the trees passing by. Erza had a vain bulge on her head, walked over to him and punched the kid in the head again. Drue was knocked out of his seat with actual smoke emanating from his bruise that was glowing neon red. Erza picked up the boy by the collar.

"What was that?" Erza said menacingly with narrow eyes. Drue was actually trembling under her gaze and swayed his back and forth to prevent another beating. She pushed the boy back into his seat. Gajeel smirked at this. "Now, answer her." Erza commanded. Drue started growling at her.

"Hmph, what a horrible attitude. I can see why no one likes you." Carla said.

"Carla!" Wendy scolded. Drue though instantly stopped at what he was doing and sunk a little in his seat. The comment had obviously affected him, but only for a slight moment.

"Fine." Drue said as he sat back up," The apartment I am currently living in is a rundown, old apartment. Very little furnishings and a lot of water problems, but that's not an issue for me. The neighborhood isn't much appealing as well. Many homeless people are on the streets, along with these so-called gangs. That's about it, so I don't have to pay much rent." Drue revealed. Everyone of them was surprised about this.

"Wait, if you have all that money you claim you have, then why are you living in such unsafe living conditions and an unsafe environment? Why not live in a nice house with great people in your neighborhood?" Juvia asked.

"It's because it's the environment I'm accustomed to, and I see no purpose in purchasing meaningless, expensive items. All that does is inflate self-indulgence and diminish your sense of appreciation. That's what I always see among people with wealth, and I don't want to be like that." Drue trailed on.

"But that doesn't mean you have to live in that kind of lifestyle. You can still purchase a decent apartment in a nice neighborhood without spoiling yourself." Wendy said. Drue simply looked at her and sighed.

"I appreciate your concern Wendy, but I've lived in worse conditions before, so it's nothing." Drue replied. Everyone was now staring at the the boy with a hint of empathy. Natsu though ignored the conversation and asked something else for his own interest.

"Okay, that aside, I have a few questions for you." Natsu said. Everyone looked at him and Lucy spoke up.

"Natsu, it's rude to say something like that to him. He's living horribly, and you blow that off as if it was irrelevant. Apologize to him!" Lucy said. Drue simple put his hand up in front of himself.

"No, it's alright. What do you want to know even though I can already guess" Drue asked dryly.

"Okay, first off, how old are you? What you did to those two guys is something I've never seen among kids you're age." Natsu said.

"I was born on June 6, X770. I'm fourteen years old." Drue replied.

"Fourteen? You're only two years older than I am!" Wendy stated," Does this mean I have to call you Drue-sempai now?"

Drue smirked a little, but it was indistinctive. "No, you can just call me Drue." Wendy smiled at this and had a slight blush along her cheeks. Drue noticed this and had a curious look on his face. But he decided to ignore it for now.

"Anything else?" Drue asked irritably.

"Yeah, where did you learn Dragon Slayer Magic?" Gajeel asked. Drue was slightly upset by this question and seemed to be in a small trance until he spoke up.

"I was raised by two dragons for two years. My mother, Aquaria the Water Dragon and my father, Electriolgia the Thunder Dragon. They trained me to utilize Dragon Slaying magic when they agreed to raise me until they disappeared on July 7th, X777." Drue said with his voice filled with sadness as he lowered his head. It was quite obvious that he was upset about his parents being gone. Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy understood his sadness and lowered their heads as well.

"Do…..do you know where they are?" Wendy asked from under her bangs covering her eyes in complete shade. Drue exhaled a sharp yet slow breath.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I don't know where they could be, or where any of the other dragons are." Drue said with a slight crack in his voice. Gajeel though, immediately proclaimed something.

"How is your shield perfectly in tact. I took a huge chunk out of that thing." Everyone looked directly at the shield and gasped to see in wasn't damaged at all. Drue picked it off from the floor.

"Ah. You see, the metal alloy of which this consist of is very rare among this world. It has regenerative properties due to the unique capabilities of the molecules. But the molecules don't regenerate independently. I have to apply a very small amount of magic for it to perform this function." Drue explained as he took a piece off and regenerated the section of the shield.

"Whoa, that's impressive. Where did you get that?" Gajeel asked.

"My father gave this to me for my sixth birthday after a year of being with him." Drue explained.

"So that's why you were upset back at the guild, isn't it?" Drue nodded his head. Natsu understood his motive for what he did. He would have lost his reasoning too if someone destroyed his scarf from Igneel. Wendy drifted her eyes toward the necklace around Drue's neck.

"Um, Drue?" Wendy began. Drue turned his attention toward the younger Dragon Slayer," um…where did you get that nice necklace and does it do anything too?" Drue grasped the end of his necklace and held the gem in his right hand.

"Well, ummm let me see. If I remember correctly, Aquaria gave this to me along with the shield. It was suppose to ummm…" Drue was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. All the girls giggled at his first display of being a child. "The gem is supposed to change to the color of my…soul mate's hair." He finally answered. Everyone started laughing at this point, and he began fuming.

"What's so funny?!" Drue yelled. The laughing soon died down, and Natsu replied.

"Hehehe, it's just that…we're surprised your mom would give you such a gift that does something like that!" Natsu was still chuckling.

"Well, I know it's kind of odd, but I like it. It, along with the shield, was the last gift I got from my parents. They have a lot of sentimental value to me." Drue said.

"So how does the necklace do that anyway?" Juvia asked.

"It's affected in some sort of cosmic way. I'm not entirely sure how it works myself, but it doesn't change color until I've actually interacted with her." Drue explained. Everyone nodded.

"Can we ask you one more thing?" Erza said. Drue shook his head.

"I don't want to answer anything else for now. Leave me alone with my thoughts for now. The attendants will soon provide dinner, so you guys can ask me after if I feel like it." Drue said as he turned to look out the window again. Everyone was disappointed at the moment, but they could ask him later. They began talking amongst themselves again and dusk was beginning to set. Drue was sitting thinking about what was inevitable, until he started having some flashes.

"**Drue, we'll make it out of here together." A young girl said.**

"_**You had no choice. I'll pay her back one-hundred fold." Drue said to a man.**_

"_**Dad? Mom? Where are you?" Drue yelled as he searched a cave.**_

Drue frowned as the flashes dissipated and soon drifted off to sleep.

**AN: Like it? Please Rate & Review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Wendy's P.O.V**

We could see that Drue had drifted off into sleep, and we decided it was best to leave him alone. The guys were talking amongst themselves at the other end of our private cart. They got up soon after Drue fell asleep because they probably didn't want to be around a bunch of girls( and Juvia-san was bugging all of them. Especially Gray-san). Us girls were talking in our original seats across the aisle from Drue's. We were first talking about how beautiful the sun setting was and how well the orange, pink, and violet colors blended in the sky. I noticed though that Juvia-san looked over towards Drue and had a warm smile on her face.

"Hm. He's actually kind of cute when he's asleep. Don't you guys agree?" Juvia-san. All of us, except the guys obviously, looked over towards his sleeping figure. The left side of his head was leaning against the window and had his arms crisscrossed on his lap. He was slouching slightly in his seat so he could use the other seats across from him as a foot rest. He seemed to be in complete serenity as he was breathing in a calm manner and had a light snore.

"Hm, actually yeah, he does look really endearing." Lucy-san said.

"I guess. Without his bad attitude and reclusive manner, he is a little cute." Erza-san said. All the girls looked at me after their compliments, and I had a look of confusion.

"What is it?" I asked. Lucy-san and Juvia-san suddenly smiled and giggled.

'Weeeelllll?" Lucy asked. I was completely oblivious to what they were trying to imply. All of them sighed as Erza-san spoke up.

"What do you think about him?" Erza-san asked. I was kind of startled by the question, and my face instantly flushed.

"Uh…I….umm….w-w-what d—d-d-do you m-mean by that?" I stuttered out. I knew what they meant, but I tried to avoid it. All the girls sweat dropped at my seemingly oblivious nature and horrible attempt to evade the question.

"Do you think he's cute?" Lucy-san asked. I began to shift uncomfortably in my seat, and Carla spoke out.

"Why would you ask such a stupid question? Of course she doesn't think that of him at all!" Carla said as she waved her paw at them. All the girls giggled at this, but it only infuriated her even more.

"We noticed that every time you even look at him, you always blush." Erza-san said with an 'all knowing' smirk on her face. I was squealing out of embarrassment after that.

"I….uh…" I couldn't even muster the words to say anything. I did think he was sort of handsome, but I didn't want to say it out loud. Carla glared at me for a second and continued her little rant.

"She does not like him! Even if she did, I would not allow her to have a relationship with that horrible boy." Carla declared. I had an annoyed look on my face because she always interfered with everything I did, but I didn't want to say anything. I know she means well, and I love her for that, but it gets annoying to have to tolerate this every day.

"Well, I guess we assumed she likes him because he's around the same age as her. We know she's young and all, but seeing a young couple and love is just so adorable, and we thought they would look cute together." Lucy-san said. I was sure my face was a much darker shade of red than Erza-san's hair after that comment. I looked over to Drue's sleeping figure. I'm surprised that he didn't wake up since his hearing is heightened because of his dragon abilities.

"Wendy, we're still waiting for an answer." Juvia-san said. I was sure actual steam was coming from my ears, and I really just wanted to disappear right now, but I knew that wasn't possible.

"Uhhhh…" All of them leaned in closer to me to hear my answer. "I think he's uhhh….welllll…." At this moment, the cart attendants came in with trollies. I could smell the aroma of a variety of delicious foods.

"Hello. We're here to provide tonight's meals. Our options are regular ramen, Beast Man Curry, Fried Rice, Dangos, Sautéed Fish, and Parfaits. Which would you people like?" A man wearing a cliché apron and cooking cap with black hair and brown eyes asked. This caught the guys attention as they immediately rushed over to the man.

"FINALLY!" Natsu-san yelled as he was drooling.

"We're STARVING!" Gajeel proclaimed. Gray and Happy just started drooling a sea. All of the girls merely face palmed at our guild mates embarrassing actions. I got up and went over to the man.

"I'm sorry." I apologized to the man. He simply responded with a smile as the guys were fighting over the curry, even though there were many more of them. I looked over towards Drue and saw he was still sleeping. I went over to him to him to get him to at least eat.

**xXx **

**Drue's Dream**

All that could be heard this night were nothing but the screams of the village inhabitants. People and their families were trying to run from a rather large group of renegade extremist. Many people who tried to retaliate against this group were immediately killed and cast aside.

"Hurry and gather all the women and children and eliminate all the men. I want to return to the site by dawn!" a rather tall, buff man had yelled.

"Yes, Sir!" his subordinates had called.

One by one, men had forcefully entered each home and forced the women and young out. Some of the men tried to prevent this, but they soon met their end in an instant. In one particular house at the very end of the row of houses, a young boy and his family sat closely together in a cramped closet to try not to be discovered.

"Nee-Chan, are we going to be ok? Will we make it out of here alive?" asked a frightened four-year-old boy.

"Of course, We'll make it out of here if it's the last thing we do." His sister reassured.

"Luia's right, son. We just have to believe we'll escape, and we'll be alright." The boy's father had said.

At that moment, all three heard their front door being kicked down and men started searching each room. The boy had almost begun to whimper and cry, but his sister had clasped her hand around his mouth to keep quiet. They heard the intruders run by in their attempts to find the household residents, but they kept complaining to one another about how unsuccessful they were.

"Sir, there is no one in the house. We should continue to the next house." A man had suggested.

"Humph, you're so stupid. You only checked the bedrooms but not the others.I know we're in a rush, but that is no exscuse for inadequete performance. Now watch." The leader had walked to the closet the family was hiding in and disintegrated the door with his magic. The man immediately reached out and grabbed the small girl by her long, blonde hair.

"_Ahhhhhhhhhh!" The girl began screaming profusely._

"_NEE-CHAN!" Drue had yelled._

"_Let her go!" His father had demanded as he jumped up and began attacking the man. Another man then shot him with a pistol in the shoulder." AHHHHHHH!" He yelled in agony, grasping his shoulder as he fell to the floor._

"_DAAAAD!" a young Drue yelled at his father. Drue tried to run over to his father but a man grabbed his arm to prevent him from doing so. "Let me go!" Drue struggled._

"_Drue, stay back!" His father hissed through the pain._

"_DAAAD!" Luia screamed through her tears. Their father tried to get up but the same man had shot him in the knee. "AHHH. *Growl*" The assailants began laughing in amusement._

"_I wouldn't try doing that again" A women said as she walked out of the shadows. "Unless you want to see the contents of your boy's head all over the wall." She threatened as she grabbed Drue and held a pistol to his head. Drue was crying his eyes out._

"_Dad. Nee-chan. I'm going to die, aren't I?" Drue managed to say._

"_Drue, Luia stay strong. You'll be fine. Just stay calm." His father reassured. The woman made a sadistic smile on her face._

"_Yeah, kids you'll be fine. But I'm not so sure about your father." She said as she pointed her gun at their father and shot him directly in the head. Drue could do nothing but watch in horror as he watched his father become nothing more than a lifeless corpse._

"_DAAAD!" Both Drue and Luia yelled. Luia had punched the man grabbing her in the tenders. He released his grip as Luia ran over and cried over her father's body. The tall, buff man that Drue assumed to be the leader went over and grabbed her by the neck as he lifted her up._

"_LET HER GO, YOU JERK!" Drue screamed. The man smirked._

"_If you say so, brat." The man released his grasp on the her, but he kicked her into the nearest wall. Luia was knocked unconscious as she fell down._

"_Nee-chan!" Drue then felt something hard hit him on the back of the head and began losing his balance. His vision became blurry and everything soon became dark as fell to the floor and lost consciousness as well._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_Drue was slowly awakening as he felt his body being tossed about back and forth. He was knocked into a nearby wooden wall, and that jolted him back awake. It was very dark in where he was, but a loud explosion behind him and a luminous light provided him his sight. He saw his sister with her hands and feet tied together with a cloth around her mouth. She was still unconscious, and Drue tried to get up but he was in the same situation as her. He noted that he was in the back of a stable along with other children and a few women. Another explosion had erupted and Drue looked to see a sight that would haunt him forever. He saw his village in flames with occasional explosions occurring with some men erupting with laughter as they were throwing male corpses back into the chaos. He could see the leader and the woman standing only a couple feet away from the back of the stable, having a conversation that he was able to hear coherently._

"_Hm. This was mildly amusing, and we gathered more trash than I anticipated. Excellent work." The man complimented._

"_Whatever. Now, I provided you with my services and subordinates, now pay your end of the bargain." The woman said. This time Drue was able to get a good look at the woman. She was a tall woman with an hour-glass figure. She had light-brown hair that reached down to her shoulders and had bangs framing her face and light-blue eyes. Her face was sleek but had a scar that went down diagonally down her right cheek. She wore a red jacket, green pants, black boots and held a magic shotgun over her shoulder._

"_Of course." The man clapped his hands and resulted in two men bringing in a crate. They opened the top and a golden light protruded out shining at the woman. She looked happy with the amount that was probably in there and started laughing._

"_It's nice to have a man that keeps his word." She pointed to two men." Take this back to the hideout." The men abided and did what was instructed._

"_I hope to do business with you again." The man said._

"_Feeling's mutual." She said. Drue tried to crawl over to his sister, but he had trouble so he decided to jump to his feet and hop over to her. But on is first hop, he tripped over a tied up kid and landed with a loud thud. This caught the attention of both the woman and man._

"_What was that?" The woman said as she started walking towards the stable. She got to the end of the stable and saw Drue squirming around. She started chuckling._

"_Pathetic kid." She said coldly as she took the stalk of her gun and knocked him out again….._

**xXx**

Drue's eyes shot open after that. He acted on impulse from the recollection an punched the window by him. His fist had gone completely through and shattered the entire window. He was panting and had a cold sweat on his forehead.

"AHHH" He heard Wendy shriek. He snapped back to his senses and realized what he just did and turned his head to look at everyone. He saw Wendy was right next to him. Her arms were in front of her face and her legs were relatively close to her chest as well. He saw the rest of the guys and girls looking at him with worry and curiosity. He retracted his hand and saw some shards of glass embedded within it. He was bleeding a lot, but he just sat there and stared an his injury.

"Drue?" He heard Wendy call his name. He looked at her and saw she was shaking. Drue stood up and headed for the lavatory in the back of the cart. He stepped in and slammed the door behind him.

"I'll..um… just leave the trolley here." The train employee said as he sprinted out of the cart.

"What was that about?" Gray said. Everyone was looking towards the bathroom.

"Wendy, are you alright?" Natsu asked out of concern.

"Y-yes." Wendy replied. Her voice was slightly shaky and she seemed to relax a little bit.

"What's with that kid?" Gajeel asked.

_In the bathroom…._

Drue was running the sink faucet and was removing the shards of glass and cleaning the blood.

_Out of all the dreams I could have had, I had to have that one…_Drue thought. He finished cleaning his various cuts and turned off the sink. "Dad. Nee-chan."He whispered to himself as his face was covered with sadness. He heard a knock at the door.

"Who's there?" He asked in a harsh tone.

"D-Drue? Are you okay?" He heard Wendy ask from the other side of the door. He turned the lights off and opened the door. He saw Wendy standing with her hand covering her mouth and a worried look.

"Yeah." He replied coldly. He walked past her and returned to his seat. He saw everyone was staring at him. He ignored them. He stared out the one windowless cart and looked out at the night-fallen forest.

"Um, Drue?" He heard Wendy call out to him. He sighed and looked over his shoulder. She had taken the liberty to sit next to him.

"What?"

"Um…can I see your hand?" Drue arched his eyebrow.

"I-I can heal your injuries if you want. I can use Healing Magic and fix you right up" She said with a smile on her face. Drue simply showed no emotion, but outstretched his hand.

"Alright."

Wendy grabbed his hand and began to shower it with a light-blue light. The cuts had began to dissipate and eventually were gone. Wendy wiped her forehead.

"There. How does it feel?" Wendy asked.

"It feels better, Thanks Wendy." He said as he placed his hand on top of her head. Wendy was surprised at first, but she smiled. Drue couldn't help but smile slightly along with her, but gasped slightly and withdrew his hand. Wendy was confused after that.

"Drue." Natsu said. The boy looked towards the Fire Dragon. Natsu handed the kid a plate of curry. Drue just looked at him with confusion. Natsu smiled at the kid.

"Come on, eat up." Drue accepted the plate.

"Thank you" Drue began eating. Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy grabbed their meals and sat with him. Drue kind of scowled at them for doing this but relaxed and let them do it. It was quiet for a little bit until Gajeel spoke up.

"So kid, what was that about. Why'd you just punch through the window." Drue sighed.

"I just had a uhh..bad dream. That's all. Sorry." Gajeel wasn't buying it. He continued to pry.

"A 'bad dream', don't give me that crap. What's wrong." Drue released his grasp on his fork and lowered his plate as he glared at his elder.

"Gajeel-kun, leave him alone; he's trying to eat." Juvia scolded him.

"I don't think so." Gajeel replied. Erza stopped eating a piece of her strawberry cake and interjected.

"Gajeel, stop this at once." She commanded. Gajeel simply smirked.

"Ohhh, what are you going to do if I don't, Titania?" He teased. Erza's reply was immediate. She simply punched him and knocked him out cold.

"Yikes." Drue said. Everyone in the cart started laughing at this. Drue on the other hand was wondering why they were laughing. Erza turned towards him.

"I'm sorry for Gajeel's rude behavior."

"It's alright." Wendy looked over to him.

"Drue, are you sure you're alright?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. Don't worry about me." He forced a smile and placed his hand on top of her head again. Wendy couldn't help but blush at this action. She heard the older girls giggle and she turned to look at them. Lucy and Juvia both had big smiles on their faces. Happy too.

"They llllllllllllliiiiiiike each other." Happy said as he flew in front of them.

"Be quiet, He-cat!" Carla screamed.

"Huh? What do you mean by that Happy?" Drue was coming off as being another Natsu after his question. He had a look of confusion and the girls face palmed and knew Drue was yet another dense Dragon to add to the list. Wendy on the other hand was getting flustered and tried to deny that.

"We don't!" Wendy screamed as she was waving her hands frantically. Everyone was laughing at Wendy's actions. She tried to make them stop, but all they focused on was Drue's hand still placed on her head.

"No, seriously, what's going on?" Drue asked. The laughter erupted even more.

_Weird.._Drue thought.

**AN: Please Rate & Review. :D **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Dinner was relatively interesting for Drue. He was not accustomed to eating around other people for a long time….. and it was quite a reiteration to him. After everyone had finished laughing at Wendy's hilarious actions, everyone had started their own conversations and usual fighting.

"I WANT THAT RAMEN, ICE-BASTARD!" Natsu screamed at Gray as he and him were pulling at the last bowl of ramen.

"YOU ALREADY HAD TEN BOWLS! LET SOMEONE ELSE HAVE IT!" Gray retorted as he froze Natsu's hands in a futile attempt to make him let go.

"NO, IT'S MINE!" Gajeel roared as he lunged himself at them. Gajeel was actually full, but a fight with Natsu, no matter how tedious it was, was something he couldn't pass up. All three men kept applying a lot of their own force on the bowl and knocked into the girls annoyingly.

"Ow!" Lucy yelped as Gray accidently elbowed her in the head. Juvia smiled at that.

_Yes, Gray-sama is causing pain to Lucy. That subconsciously show he dislikes her. YEEEEEEES!..._Juvia thought. But her mental shouting was interrupted as Natsu accidently elbowed her in the face, knocking her out. The guys still continued their fruitless fighting, and they had somehow managed to fall over Lucy and still fought over the bowl.

"AHHHHH! Don't get me involved in this!" Lucy said as she tried to push the heavy idiots off her. They hear her and continued fighting, but they accidently knocked Erza, who was eating her strawberry cake, subsequently knocking it out of her hands.

Erza merely stared in shock as her cake fell to the floor in unnecessary slow-motion. The cake finally made contact with the floor and a dark, killer aura immediately surrounded her being. The guys instinctively stopped as they stared at the reequip mage. All their eyes shifted toward the cake and hesitantly looked back towards Erza.

"CEASE THIS NOW!" Erza yelled as she grabbed the bowl an dumped the soup onto Natsu's head. She kicked all of them into the aisle in one swift kick and reequipped into her Heaven Wheel's Armor.

"It BUUUURNS!" Natsu yelled as his face was smoking. He threw the bowl off.

"That's surprising to hear from you." Lucy smirked and started chuckling.

"Now, I don't want to hear another peep out of any of you for the rest of the night. You understand me!?" Erza narrowed her eyes with a red glint as she directed her swords at them.

"HAI!" Natsu and Gray yelled as they trembled in fear and returned to their seats. She looked towards Gajeel with killer intent. He slid back and nodded.

Wendy was sitting by Drue and was eating some dangos and laughing in amusement at the sight. She brought one into her mouth and squealed in delight as the delectable morsel hit her taste buds.

"MMMM! These are the best dangos I have ever had!" She said as she brought another one to her mouth and did the same thing along with waving her legs up and down.

"Kawai." Lucy said as she clasped her hands together and smiled.

Wendy went for another but stopped as she looked over toward Drue. All he was doing was staring at his curry.

"Drue? What's wrong? Is your curry not good? Here, have some of my dangos." She offered her plate to him. Drue snapped out of his trance and looked at her.

"Oh, no, it's fine. Thanks for the offer." He said as waved his hand in front of her plate. She drew back her plate and frowned slightly.

"What's wrong then?" She asked. Drue smiled at her reassuringly.

"It's nothing." He sighed," I was just reminiscing some moments from when I was younger. That's all." He said. He took a bite out of his curry.

"What were you remembering about?" Natsu asked.

Drue looked up towards him. His eyes shifted to the side.

"I…..I rather not say. What I was just remembering about is something I don't want to…. discuss" Drue said grimly as he took another bite of his curry. He was still getting some looks from everyone.

He was becoming more and more uncomfortable under their gazes. Drue may be well composed, but he still had his repressive childhood actions that made him shift uncomfortably.

"Uhhh…can you guys please stop staring at me?" Drue asked with a surprising nervous chuckle.

"Sorry, but you seemed forlorn and we were kind of worried about you for a second." Lucy said. Drue reached over and placed his empty plate on the trolley.

"hehe…alright look, I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine everyone. There's no need to worry about me." Drue tried to reassure, but they didn't buy it. He felt a hand over his shoulder and saw that it was Wendy.

"Drue, are you sure? If something is troubling you, you can tell me-I mean us!" She said in a very fast and sweet tone after she caught herself. Drue lightly pushed her hand away. Wendy looked slightly down-hearted from this.

"Thanks Wendy, but I'll manage. Besides, what internal turmoils I am going through right now are rather…unfathomable, and I would prefer to keep that to myself." Drue said.

"Drue." Natsu said with a smile. "We may not know much about you, nor you us, but that shouldn't discourage you from letting your troubles off your mind by telling us what's bothering you. You're a Fairy Tail mage, therefore, you're our nakama. You can tell us anything."

"Yeah. You're also a Dragon Slayer. Your our kin, Drue. You can trust us." Wendy said.

Drue gasped as a surprised look came on his face. He looked around the cart and saw everyone was smiling at him, except for Juvia since she was still knocked out.

_Nakama? _Drue thought. His face soon fell as his bangs shadowed his eyes._ No…..not again. I can't…..I can't experience the possibility of that happening…again._ Drue brought his hand to cover his eyes. Wendy looked at him with concern. She scooted closer to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Drue?" Wendy asked.

"Leave me alone." Drue said. He started panting as some flashes entered his mind again.

"But-"

"I said LEAVE!" Drue growled in a low growl as he scowled at her. Wendy jumped back at the inhuman voice. Drue then reached over and placed his left hand on the wall. He charged his lightning and ran a current through the wall and blew out the lights.

"Now, go to sleep." Drue ordered. Natsu was about to say something, but Erza placed her hand on his shoulder to stop and shook her head. Natsu took one last look at him and got up along with Gajeel. Everyone occupied one seat to substitute as a bed. Wendy still stood by Drue, not moving an inch. She had her hand clasped around her mouth and stared at him.

**Wendy's P.O.V**

_Did I do something wrong? Drue was fine a moment ago and suddenly he turned…..demonic there for a second. And that look. I haven't ever seen such a horrible look on someone like that before. Did I say something to set him off? D…does he dislike my presence? Does he hate us? Me? I know we just came along with him without his total approval, but that shouldn't be a reason to act like that, right? _I pondered over in my head. I soon felt a slight tug on my dress. I looked down and saw Charle.

"Wendy, don't bother being worried over him. You should get some sleep." She said. My shoulder fell slightly limp in slight sadness. I nodded and looked at Drue one last time before we went to occupy a seat in the very front of the cart. I layed down on the cushion while Charle layed on my stomach.

_Drue, what's wrong with you? Why don't you want to tell us what's eating away at you? _I conjugated many thoughts and possible explanations. My eye lids soon became heavy as I slowly closed my eyes and started drifting off into sleep.

**AN: I had trouble with typing this chapter and couldn't think of a lot routes this chapter could have taken. My imagination isn't really expansive, so I apologize. Some constructive criticism and advice would be really great. Rate & Review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

It had been two hours since Drue's shift in attitude and outburst at Wendy. He remained still in his seat, still in the same position since everyone went to sleep. He sat motionless with his thoughts and listened to the light snores of everyone in the cart, somehow perfectly in sync.

_*sigh* Maybe I shouldn't have done that…_Drue thought as he finally moved and sunk in his seat. He looked around the darkened cart and noted where everyone was sleeping. Natsu and Gajeel were sleeping at the front of the cart near Wendy.

_I guess they must be wary of me since I snapped at her. I would be to if I was in their position. I can't believe I did that..to her especially. Gah I'm such an idiot, I should have controlled myself more! _Drue scolded himself.

He looked around again and noted that Lucy and Juvia were sleeping in the seats across the aisle from his. Gray was sleeping in the seat behind Juvia's; only in his boxers. Drue saw that his pants were hanging from the over-head cabinet, but couldn't seem to find his other clothes.

Drue continued his surveying of the cart for the last person, Erza. He finally saw through the darkness that she was occupying the last set of seats near the end of the cart.

_Hm…why is she secluding herself by sleeping all the way over there? That's what I should be doing. _Drue sighed. He then grasped his head out of agony.

_Uh, having all these flashbacks are really taking their toll on my head. I haven't had a headache like this for a long time. _Drue looked out the window. _Maybe some fresh air might alleviate the tension. _Drue rubbed his head and ruffled up his hair.

Drue stood up and slowly made his way towards the back of the cart. He shifted slowly to try and not make any noise whatsoever and tip-toed towards the back. He was nearly successful and almost a third of the way to the door, until he accidently stepped on a certain cat's tail in the middle of the aisle.

The wake-up reaction was instantaneous.

"WAAAAAAH-" Happy managed to scream before Drue clasped his hand over his mouth to prevent him from continuing. Luckily, no one jolted awake from the scream and only shifted in their sleep.

Drue let out a sigh of relief while Happy was facing him and was mad at the young adolescent.

"AFFDDFD DGSDGDSG MHFNfn!" Happy muffled out.

"I'm sorry; I didn't see you." Drue whispered to the cat as he placed him on his arm.

"MHMMMFMM mfhmhffhm!" Drue twitched at that comment.

"Okay, now that was just uncalled for Happy." Drue hissed at him.

"Mm-mm, hmmmhfjhg fhgh!" Happy sneered at him. Drue had a large anime bulge on his head, and his eyes went completely white out of anger.

"I said it was an accident! Gosh, can't you give a kid a break when he makes a simple mistake!? Where did you even learn those words any way? A cat shouldn't even say such profanity. Wait….cats shouldn't even talk at all!" He hissed at the cat.

"FGHGFJGNGMGF!" Happy yelled from under Drue's hand.

"For the last time, it was an ACCIDENT!" Drue whispered in a stern tone.

Happy started waving his fist at the boy and let all of his offended comments leach out. A couple minutes passed by and Happy finally cooled down.

"Wow, I never thought I would hear that. That actually kind of hurts, but I'm just going to let those insults pass by." Drue said, obviously offended.

Drue and Happy began looking in various directions in the cart, avoiding each other's eyes.

"So.." Drue began. Happy looked at the boy. "why were you sleeping on the floor in the first place? Why aren't you with Natsu-san?"

"Chashdjwf weuhsdgfmfmfgjhnmgf. Oh, cantutyud?" Happy asked. Drue removed his hand fro his mouth.

"Sorry." Drue said.

"Ahhh, it's alright" Happy sighed. "Anyway, I'm was sleeping there because I wanted to. I love sleeping on the floor. It's sooo comfortable, cozy, and it builds character." Happy proclaimed proudly while looking towards the window and puffing out his chest.

Drue had an incredulous look and arched his eyebrow. Happy peeked through his eyelid and saw the look on his face.

"Happy…" Drue started.

"Yeah?" Happy responded slowly as he slowly began to look at him.

"First off, that was the lamest lie I've ever heard; Builds character?. Two, don't lie to me, and three, tell me exactly why you were on the floor." Drue whispered. Happy slowly slumped over and had tears streaming down his face.

"Charle." Happy whined.

"Huh? What about her?" Drue asked out of sincere curiosity.

"She…she knocked me unconscious." Happy began bawling. Drue covered his mouth again, much to Happy's dismay.

"Why did she knock you out?" Drue said as he removed his hand from his mouth again.

"I wanted to protect her…."Happy trailed on.

"ANNNNNND?" Drue asked.

"So…I tried to sleep with her and Wendy. But she was enraged for some reason and kicked me towards the ceiling. I hit my head and lost consciousness. I've been knocked out ever since." Happy admitted. Drue sweat dropped out of exasperation.

"Huh….a perverted, talking cat. Now I've seen everything." Drue said as he looked nowhere in particular.

"I'm not a pervert!" Happy retorted.

Drue retracted a bit because Happy screamed that directly in his sensitive ears.

"Alright, alright…just calm down okay. I really don't want to deal with this right now, so go sleep with Natsu-san over in the front, okay?" Drue winced out as he patted his head.

"MMMM, Drue?"

"hm, what is it Happy?" Drue asked as he picked at his ear to clear his hearing.

"I don't really want to go over and sleep with him." Happy said. Drue was surprised.

"Oh, why not? Don't you usually do that?"

"Yeah, but there are two things that are discouraging me to do that."

"What are they?" Drue asked.

"Well, even though Wendy casted Troia on him, it eventually wears off, and he quickly succumbs to his severe motion-sickness." Happy began explaining.

"uh-huh."

"And every time I sleep with him when he's on transportation, he becomes a _very_ rough sleeper, emphasis on 'very'."

"Just 'bout how bad is it?" Drue asked. For some reason he didn't want to know, but his curiosity got the best of him.

"To put it to you simply, he becomes slightly hostile and rolls around too much. The last time I slept with him, he burned my tail, blew the top off the train cart, and crushed me as he rolled on top of me." Happy said as he shivered at the thought.

"Okay. So what do you want to do exactly? If you don't want to sleep with him, then what do you want?" Drue asked out of impatience.

"Well…I was wondering now if I could sleep with you?" Happy asked out of embarrassment.

"Uh…I don't know about that. Why not sleep with one of the others?" Drue asked.

"Well, Erza and Gajeel scare the whickers off of me, Lucy is too big-"

Lucy sneezed at that.

"Juvia is rather weird because she keeps calling out Gray's name, and Gray is freezing cold, plus I don't like sleeping with a guy in his underwear." Happy explained.

Drue sighed.

"Ugh, my head hurts. Fine, you can, but don't do anything that will invoke me, alright?"

"AYE!" Happy said. Happy began flying towards his seat but stopped when he noticed Drue heading in the opposite direction.

"Drue, where are you going? You're seat is over here." Happy called out. Drue turned around.

"I need some fresh air. I'll be back in a little bit. Just go to sleep." Drue said as he continued towards the back. Happy complied at made himself comfortable on the seat and soon drifted off.

Drue continued his original planned and finally reached the door. Before he opened it, he looked to his left and saw Erza sleeping peacefully in the seat. She shifted slightly to her left and placed her right arm over her head.

_Hm. She looks rather endearing when she's asleep. Too bad she can't be like that when she's awake. _Drue thought. He slowly slid open the door and stepped out onto the small platform. He looked inside one more time to check if anyone woke up and quietly closed the door.

"Huh?" Erza began to awaken from her slumber. She yawned as she rubbed her eyes and looked around the cart. "Drue?"

** xXx**

Drue slowly walked forward on the wooden platform until he reached the guard rail. He leaned forward and used his arms to support himself. Drue watched as the moon-lite landscape passed by from under his feet and watched the trees dissipate from sight.

"My god. I can't believe I just spent a couple minutes arguing and getting insulted by a talking cat." Drue said. "I don't understand how Natsu-san can tolerate that. And with how that other one is, I can say the same for Wendy."

Drue grabbed his temples.

"Thankfully I don't have one to deal with. I would probably rip my own hair out." Drue groaned as he looked out at the landscape. **(AN: Foreshadowing ;))**

_Ahhhh, this is nice._ Drue thought as he inhaled a large breath off air and enjoyed the slight breeze. The air smelled of lilacs, pine, and a hint of smoke because of the train exhaust. Drue continued to stare out into the open land and basked in its glory.

"The night is soothing. forgetting all your troubles." Drue began as he inhaled another breath. "I wish it could be like this all the time. No worries, nothing."

Drue looked up to view the moon. It was a full moon out tonight and Drue could just stare at.

"The moon. The nights shining symbol of hope." Drue smiled.

"I wish you were here to see this, nee-chan…. You always loved the moon and the beautiful light that it reflected."

Drue began to chuckle

"Gosh, you used to always chew my ear off with your constant swooning over it. I used to get really annoyed by you just for that…but now I wish I could hear you say it once more." Drue lowered his head and started remembering about his sister.

_Flashback.._

"_Drue..Drue.." a light voice called out to him. A young, small Drue was trying to get some sleep, but he was abruptly woken up by a girl with radiant crème-blonde hair and dark-green eyes similar to his._

"_Mmm…What is it Luia. I'm trying to sleep. It's been an extremely long day okay." Drue said groggily._

"_Drue…get up. I want to show you something." Luia urged her brother. Drue waved his hand at her for her to go away and covered his head with the blankets. _

"_Come on Drue, don't be like that. It'll just be for a minute." She tried to persuade him._

"_That's too loooong!" Drue groaned from under his thin-layered covers._

"_Okay, if that's how you want to be-" She said. She grabbed Drue by the collar of his ragged clothing and dragged him out from under the sheets. _

"_Ahhhh, let me go!"_

_Drue tried to wriggle out of her hold, but he was unsuccessful. She dragged him for a couple of feet and threw him at a set of metal bars._

"_Alright nee-chan, I'm up. What do you want me to see?" Drue asked out of agitation as he rubbed his back._

"_look." She pointed out of the cell into the sky. Drue followed her arm and saw that she was pointing at a full moon._

"_Okay….. what's so special about the moon? It's there every night; what's so special about it now?" Drue asked as he rubbed his eyes._

"_Yeah, but it's a full moon this time. It's been months since I last saw one." Luia squealed. Drue sighed._

"_Nee-chan, it's just the moon. There's nothing special about it okay?" Drue said as he began to walk back over to the area of the floor he was sleeping on._

"_But isn't it just beautiful?! Oh, I wish I could see it from a better point. I can hardly see it." She said as she crouched down to try and get a better view._

"_Nee-chan, we'll probably see it some other time when we have to relocate the site again. There's no purpose in trying to stare at it when we can hardly see it. So please go to sleep." Drue said._

"_But Drue-" Luia began. Drue looked over to her._

"_The last time I saw one was the night before…..that happened." Luia said with a tear running down her left cheek._

_Drue tensed at the mention of that night._

"_Nee-chan, don't talk about it. I know you miss dad-I miss him too-and you miss our old lives, but now that is far beyond our reach now. Just talking about what once was like will only make you feel worse with every recollection you make."_

_Luia wiped her eyes._

"_Yeah. Sorry. The moon has that effect on me.I've always loved the stars, the constellations, and the moon especially." Luia said as she began to smile. Drue looked at her with surprise. Drue reached his floor-bed and sat down. Before Drue pulled at his covers, Luia spoke up._

"_Drue…..do you still have nightmares? Do you still hear everything that could be heard that night?" She asked out of the blue._

_Drue was taken by surprise by the question, but he lowered his head and sighed._

"_Nee-cha-" Drue started._

"_Drue. Please answer me. I need to know." She said in a stern tone. Drue was taken aback by this and grabbed his head._

"_Yes…..all I see is dad. And a helpless boy who just stood by and watched him die." Drue said._

"_Are you still hung up on that situation again?" She asked._

"_That's all I can think of when I remember that night. I….was pathetic. I should have done more." Drue said._

"_Drue, there was nothing you could have done. It wasn't your fault; don't be hard on yourself." Luia reassured as she walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder._

"_But I could have at least made an attempt to stop that woman from doing it. I could have at least tried to retaliate and hurt her." Drue said as he hugged his knees as tears began to flow down his face._

_Luia then hugged her brother to comfort him. Drue continued crying._

"_Dad wouldn't have wanted you to even think about that." Luia said. Drue looked up at his sister. His eyes met hers, tears now running down her eyes as well._

"_Dad wanted to ensure our safety. If you had done that and you were the one to get hurt, dad could never forgive himself, and I would have lost the will to live. I love you Drue; I could not carry on through life and live without you." She said as her grasp tightened around him._

"_Dad-" She paused" Dad…wanted to keep us safe….he loved us. He sacrificed himself to….keep us alive.." she croaked out._

_Drue stopped crying as he looked at his sister over his shoulders. Drue returned the hug and was now trying to comfort her. He kept gently patting her back._

"_Nee-chan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset. Please stop crying. Please…." Drue's attempt was futile. She was still crying her eyes out._

_A man had walked by the gate and saw the two kids huddled together in the middle of the cell._

"_Oi! It's night out, you should be sleeping! You need to sleep for tomorrow's work. You understand me?!" The man said._

"_Hai, we're sorry. We'll go to sleep now sir." Drue said with a trembling voice. The man scowled at the kids and walked away._

_Luia was still crying and whimpering in Drue's arms. Drue had no idea what to do to stop her. Well, a four-year-old like him couldn't even figure out how he was supposed to stop an eight-year-old from crying._

_Drue looked up towards the moon._

"_Nee-chan, please stop crying. How about we look at the moon for the rest of the night, huh? Will that make you feel better?" Drue suggested. Luia's crying soon started to become more quiet and controlled until she finally stopped. She let go of Drue and looked at him in the eyes._

_Her eyes were completely red, and her face was completely saturated with tears. She wiped her face with her shirt and gave a small smile._

"_Sorry Drue. I didn't mean to." She said in barely a whisper._

"_Let's just look at the moon and appreciate the last time we'll see it for long time." She said._

_Drue smiled and nodded. Drue winced a little and grasped his right leg._

"_Drue, what's wrong?!" _

_Drue pulled up his right pant leg and showed a large bleeding laceration running on most of his calf._

"_Drue when did you get that. What happened?"_

_Drue chuckled a little bit. "I'm fine nee-chan. I wasn't performing my duties correctly and Dan-sama sliced me with his scythe. It was my fault."_

"_Drue, don't bother trying to cover for him for a minor mistake you made on accident. And don't call him 'Dan-sama'" Luia scolded him._

"_Nee-chan, this is only a minor wound. It's fine. But Dan-sama said that if I don't address him that way, he'll hurt me even more." Drue said as he covered his wound with his pants. Luia clenched her teeth and punched the ground. Drue jumped back._

"_Nee-chan?" Luia was sort of lost for a moment and came back to his senses._

"_Oh, sorry, Drue."_

"_Nee-chan, are you okay?"_

_Luia placed her hand on his head and smiled._

"_Yeah, I kind of let my anger get the best of me for a second there, but I'm fine now. Let's try and bandage that wound up."_

"_Mmmmm." Drue poked his lips out. "I'm fine. It's already starting to scab over."_

"_Oi,oi, don't give me that look. Let's just observe the moon." She said as she lightly punched his head._

"_Ow!" Drue exclaimed as he grabbed his head. He looked at her with some slight anger, but eventually they started laughing. _**(AN: Yeah, their moods can change instantly.)**

_Drue and Luia laid under their covers on the hard floor , staring at the moon until a dense cluster of rain clouds blocked their view. Rain immediately followed along with thunder and lightning._

_Luia had fallen asleep and started snoring lightly. Drue looked up towards his sister._

_You have the moon as your solace, but I have the powerful tension of thunder. Drue thought before he drifted off._

_End of Flashback…_

"Nee-chan." Drue whispered to himself.

**Erza's P.O.V**

I had immediately stood up as soon as I heard the door close. I didn't manage to see exactly who it was that stepped out, so I seized the liberty to check myself.

I fixed some frizzled strand of hair and opened the sliding door. I saw that is was Drue. He was leaning on the guard rail with his back to the door. He didn't seem to hear me, so I stepped out slowly so I wouldn't startle him.

I stood clear of the door and lightly slammed it. This seemed to have caught his attention because he jumped a little bit and slowly turned to face me. But I saw something that I didn't expect to witness….

….He was crying.

This was actually quite a surprise.

"Erza-san? When did you get here? Did I wake you up?" He said as he started wiping his eyes with his sleeve. I didn't reply at first, but I sighed and answered.

"Yes, I heard you step out a moment ago." I said.

"Oh, I'm sorry that I disturbed you." Drue apologized as he finished wiping his eyes. He turned around to look out. I took a few steps forward and, without hesitation, placed my hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at me.

"Drue."

"Yeah?" He asked.

"What's wrong?" Why were you crying?" I asked with concern written on my face. He looked down and exhaled.

"It's..nothing." I figured he would say that.

"Drue, what's wrong." I said. I tightened my grasp on his shoulder and placed my other hand on his. He tried to escape, but I had a tight enough hold on him to prevent that.

"What's this about all of a sudden?" He asked.

"Look, you're attitude may be unendearing and I resent that about you. But you're still a person, and something is troubling you. You've been avoiding that issue with us long enough. Now tell me what's wrong." I commanded.

He looked away for a moment. I could feel his body tense and his breathing become more slow. Moments passed and he didn't say a thing. I prepared myself to yell at him, but he immediately spoke up.

"Tower of Heaven." He said dryly.

I drew my head back slightly and looked at him curiously. Where did that come from all of a sudden?

He turned towards me.

"Your affiliation in the rebellion at the Tower of Heaven, and the results of it, gave the inspiration among the other child labor work forces across Fiore to follow in your footsteps, Erza-san." Drue said.

"Gave inspiration? What are you talking about?" I said.

"Erza-san, the Tower of Heaven wasn't the only secluded base that utilized child labor to achieve a goal." He said.

I gasped.

"It…it wasn't?" I asked.

"No, there were a few more scattered throughout the entire continental country. All of them used child labor for their work force, even though the goals were far different for each."

"You….you were also a slave?" I asked. He nodded his head. I let go of his shoulder and hand. I stepped back a little and rested against the rail.

"My slave proprietor didn't focus on resurrecting demons or dark mages. We were forced to excavate various locations for-" Drue began explaining everything about his past and various instances he experienced to me. He enlightened me about how he and his older sister were captured to how he escaped from their current site.** (AN: I would rather explain his past where everyone else is present, so I'm just skip over it for now :P)**

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I know I was young myself when I was forced into child labor, but him, I just couldn't fathom it. I exhaled a large breath of air and clasped my mouth with my hand.

"So, now you know why I'm going. Satisfied?" Drue said. I couldn't even find the words to respond with.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally spoke.

"Drue, is that why you were acting in such a pretentious manner before? Is that why you focused a negative attitude towards all of us earlier?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Yes. To be completely honest, I'm not entirely like that. I actually envy all of you that you're all able to establish such a strong connection with others, no matter how odd or reclusive they are. That's something I won't ever be able to do. I actually do want to make a connection with all of you, but-"

"Why don't you then?" I interrupted. He flipped his bangs from his face and sighed.

"Well, you know why."

"But that was in the past Drue, and what happened was unfortunate incidences that were beyond your abilities to control. That shouldn't discourage you now from trying to connect with people….especially with Wendy."

Drue sighed.

"I know where you're coming from, but I just can't. It would make things harder after I accomplish my goals. I can't do that to anyone…especially Wendy. I couldn't live with myself if I caused her to suffer the most out of everyone." Drue said.

"But isn't it worse by not telling her?" I asked. Drue looked to his right to the door.

"It is and it isn't. It pains me to know that she'll probably never know, but it also provides some consolation to know she'll be less affected by it. Besides, I'll still communicate with her, but I probably won't ever tell her."

"But I want you to promise me two things-"

I looked up him with curiosity.

"What?"

"First, I don't want you informing the rest of them about what I have told you here. I know eventually they'll know, but I don't want them knowing about me right now." Drue said.

"Then why did you tell me?" I asked.

"Well, besides the fact you commanded me to tell you, I trust you."

"Why?"

"Because, you're the only one that can comprehend what I went through and understand how I feel right now. There are so many things that we can relate with that I couldn't even achieve with the others." Drue said.

He did have a point.

"Yeah, I suppose."

"And two, I especially don't want you to tell Wendy about me. If she ever discovers who I am, I want to be the one to tell her. Do you understand where my reasoning is at on that subject?" He asked.

"of course." We stood there silently for a minute.

"Drue, will you accept some advice from an elder with similar experience?"

"Sure."

"After I escaped from captivity, I went through the same things you did, emotionally."

"Okay."

"Basically, all I have to say is that don't push away those who are making an effort to try to help you, and don't try to not make a connection with those close to you. You'll only result for them to feel worse for not allowing them to get to fully know you. Everyone is trying to develop a friendship with you, and rejecting their kindness will actually make things more complicated and heart-wrenching than you intend it to be." I said.

He merely just stared at me without uttering a word. Some more time passed until he spoke.

"I think it's time to go to sleep. Tomorrow, we won't be able to commute by train anymore, and we'll need our energy." He said.

We both got up and he opened the door for me. I thanked him for his manners and stepped in, he followed as well. I returned to the seats I was previously occupying, and I noticed Drue still standing by my seat.

He smiled.

"Thank you for advice and understanding my perspective. I'll admit that I actually enjoyed our talk. It's been quite some time since I've been able to communicate with anyone. Arigato…Erza-nee." He said.

I was caught by surprise at first, but I returned a smile too.

He returned to his seat and I could see he instantly dozed off the moment he laid down.

I laid down too and drifted off into dream land as well.

**AN: Sorry for the long chapter. Did you like it? Criticism will be appreciated. Please Rate & Review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The rest of the night had been very quiet and peaceful, and morning soon arrived.

**Wendy's P.O.V**

I awoke with the sun's rays beaming through the windows and hitting be directly in the eyes. I closed them immediately and sat up slowly to evade them. I rubbed my eyes and yawned.

"Good morning Wendy." I opened my eyes and saw that Charle had woken up as well and was stretching her entire body.

"Good morning Charle." I replied.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked me. I nodded in response. I asked her the very same thing.

"Well, I couldn't get any sleep because I was cautious about the he-cat climbing back up again and trying to sleep with me." She shuddered after that.

"Charle, don't you think it was rather rude of you though to kick him off and knock him out cold?"

"No." She said bluntly.

I heard a groan near the seat across the aisle from mine, and saw Gajeel-san starting to wake up. He slowly sat up and opened his eyes. He looked over to me and I greeted him.

"Good morning Gajeel-san." I said with a smile. He grunted in response and rubbed at his eyes. I heard a loud groan in the seat behind mine. I looked over to see Natsu-san with his face nearly oozing off.

"Natsu-san." I said. He managed to look in my direction. He outstretched his arm.

"W…..Wendy, tha….thank goodness you're awake. Please, can you cast Tr*gag* Troia again. I can't tolerate this anymore. I've been up for hours." He gagged out. I sighed as I jumped out of my seat and over to him. I stretched both my hands out.

"Troia." I said as I closed my eyes and focused my magic in the palms of my hands.

I heard Natsu-san stop groaning, and I opened my eyes. He jumped up out of joy and pumped his arms in the air.

"AHHHHHHH that feels great! Arigato, Wendy." He said as he hugged me.

I chuckled out of embarrassment and he soon put me down.

"Are the others awake yet? Where's breakfast!? Where's Happy!?" He asked as some drool was starting to accumulate on the corners of his mouth.

"No, it's not here yet, and the others are still asleep." Charle replied as she floated to the top of my head and landed.

"Well, I guess I should wake them up." He said a little too enthusiastically as he ran over to where Lucy-san and Juvia-san were.

**Normal P.O.V**

Natsu made it over to Lucy and started to shake her awake.

"Lucy, wake up and find me breakfast." Natsu said as he was shaking her profusely. Somehow, Lucy didn't wake up.

Natsu dropped her on the seat. Natsu stopped to think for a second a he developed an idea.

He enveloped his hands in his flames and slowly reached for Lucy. He touched her shoulder, and the moment he did, she jumped up and screamed.

"hot-hot-hot-hot-hot-hot-HOT!" Lucy screamed as she ran back and forth in the aisle.

"HAHAHAHAHA" Natsu and Gajeel laughed.

Juvia and Gray started to wake up from the noise.

"*yawn* Man, I can't even wake up to a peaceful morning without Hot-head causing a ruckus." Gray insulted.

"What was that Gray?!" Natsu asked as he butted heads with him. Gray didn't say anything. He jumped to the point and started fighting him in the middle of the aisle.

"Ahhh, Juvia was having a nice dream about her and Gray-sama on a date. Why did you have to wake Juvia up?" Juvia whined as she rubbed her eyes.

"Good morning Juvia-san." Wendy greeted her. Juvia looked at her and smiled.

"Good morning Wendy." Juvia said. Wendy and Charle took the seat in front of her. Both girls watched the morning brawl take place on the floor, not saying a single word.

"Wendy.." Juvia said. Wendy looked up at her.

"Hm?" Wendy hummed.

Juvia pointed over towards Drue's sleeping figure while smiling. Wendy followed it and looked over at him.

"Oh, so that's where Happy was." Wendy said with a pink tint on her cheeks. The fight between Natsu and Gray stopped. Natsu looked over to see.

"Where!?" Natsu yelled.

Happy was curled up in a ball sleeping on Drue's chest. Happy seemed to be in complete serenity and was breathing at a slow, steady rate and was purring slightly. Drue was laying down on the seat with his left leg and arm hanging off the side of the seat. He had his right over swung over his face and was snoring lightly.

"Huh? I wonder why he was sleeping with him." Lucy said as she finally stopped running and cooled down her shoulder.

Natsu walked over to them and lightly nudged Happy until he finally woke up.

"Huh? Oh, it's Natsu." Happy said groggily as he slowly stood up.

"Happy, why were you sleeping with Drue?" Natsu asked. Happy shook his head vigorously.

"I didn't want to sleep anywhere near you. Especially with your 'night attacks' when your trying to cope with your sickness." Happy said as he crossed his arms. Natsu rubbed his cheek with his index finger and averted his eyes, laughing nervously.

"Hehe, I see your point, but why with him?" Natsu asked.

"Well, I asked him of course, and he had no problem with it. It was actually quite comfy." Happy said as he lightly tapped his chest with his foot. His tail though was rubbing against Drue's nose, and that caused him to sneeze awake.

"Achoo!...huh? What time is it?" Drue said as he slowly began to sit up. He rubbed his temples and rubbed down his face.

"It's morning Drue." Happy said as the Slayer looked down at him.

Drue grunted.

"G-good morning Drue, h-how are you feeling?" Wendy stuttered out, slightly wary of how he'll act. Drue looked up at her.

"Morning. I'm fine." Drue went quiet for a second.

"Hey uh Wendy…" Drue started.

"Yes?" She asked as she tilted her head.

"Look I uh just wanted to….."

"Yes?"

"…apologize about last night. It was uncalled for and rude. Sorry if I scared you for a second." Drue apologized as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

Wendy smiled. "oh it's alright. Did you sleep well?"

Drue sighed a breath of relief.

"Yeah, I guess. I went to sleep late last night, so I didn't get much."

"Huh? Why did you go to sleep late last night? You went to bed earlier than us." Gray said.

"I didn't go to sleep. I was still thinking about a lot of things. Oh, and where are your clothes?" Drue asked as he pointed to him. Gray gasped in shock and frantically searched the cart for his attire.

"So, you're better now right? We don't have to worry about you having a sudden attitude shift?" Natsu asked as he sat down in the seat next to him and patted his back.

Drue laughed a little. "No, you don't have to worry about that happening if you're careful."

Natsu arched his eyebrow. "Careful?"

Erza had been the last one to wake up and slowly walked into the gathering and sat in the seat across from Drue's.

"Morning Erza" Everyone greeted with a smile.

"Morning. Did everyone sleep well?" She said as she stretched her shoulders.

Everyone nodded.

"So Drue, where are we going again?" Erza asked.

"Well, the final stop for the train is at a popular town known as Chi Mania. From there I'll travel all the way to , then I'll reach my final destination." Drue explained.

"Don't you mean 'we'?" Erza said with a glare. Drue retracted a bit and corrected himself.

"Y-yeah, we." Drue said as he averted her gaze.

"Wait, Juvia is confused about something." Juvia said as she brought her finger to her chin. Drue looked at her.

"What is it Juvia-san?" Drue asked.

"That guy said that their current location for this site was around 300 miles west from ."

"yes."

"Why are we heading directly to the mountain instead of going by it?" She asked.

Drue sighed.

"There's….something I need to attend to at the mountain, so that's why I'm heading there first." Drue replied.

"What do you need to do at the mountain?" Gajeel asked. Drue sank slightly in his seat.

"It's…really personal. I rather not say. If you guys are still with me, you'll see" Drue said glumly. Drue looked around to see everyone staring at him with severe intent and worry. He wanted to change the subject immediately and spoke to Erza.

"So, Erza-nee, did you sleep well last night? What did you dream about?" Drue asked nonchalantly. He ignored the surprise looks on everyone's faces and was relieved he managed to get them to stop discussing the previous topic.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Until they all screamed simultaneously.

"-NEEEEEEE?!" Everyone except Drue and Erza yelled.

"Oh, I slept really well. I dreamt about strawberry cake all night long." She replied with a smile. Everyone else toppled over in grief and groaned.

"Don't act like that didn't affect you Erza!" Lucy said as she slowly regained her composure and climbed into the seat next to her.

"Oh, why would it?" Erza asked, completely oblivious to what was going on.

"Erza, he just called you 'Erza-nee', and you're not bothered by that?" Gray asked.

"No. But I am bothered that you don't have anything besides your underwear on." She replied as she narrowed her eyes. Gray was shocked again.

"Oh, Come on! I just put them on! Where are they now?!" Gray screamed as he searched for his clothes…again.

Drue looked over to watch Gray for a second.

"Uhhhh, does he always lose his clothes and strip all the time?" Drue asked.

"Apparently…yes. He has an extreme habit of stripping down to his boxers without his knowing of it. We have to constantly remind him on a daily basis to find his clothes." Lucy explained.

Drue was surprised and kind of disturbed by this information. The intercom was activated, the conductor spoke over it.

"**Good Morning passengers. We will be arriving at Chi Mania in less than an hour. I repeat, we will be arriving at Chi Mania in less than an hour. Our employees will son be arriving to serve breakfast. Thank you for commuting with us as your means of transportation. Have a nice day." The female conductor finished.**

Drue blinked a few times after she had finished. His stomach gurgled a bit, and he grabbed it.

"Man, I'm hungry." Drue said. He stood up and started heading for the restroom.

"I'll be right back." Drue yawned as he opened the door, stepped in and closed it.

The moment he did, everyone jumped in front of Erza with concentration plastered on their faces.

"What?" Erza asked.

"Okay what happened? Why is he suddenly calling you 'Erza-nee'?" Juvia asked.

"Yeah, and why is he acting so…..calm and collective? He wasn't like that yesterday." Natsu said.

Erza grunted slightly.

"Well….Drue and I had a rather..uh… interesting conversation last night, and he started addressing me that way. I don't mind if he does that." She said.

"What were you and Drue talking about last night, Erza-san?" Wendy asked.

Erza's face dropped slightly as she stared at the Sky Dragon for a moment.

"Well, our conversation was regarding some personal issues, and it's not my position to say what we talked about." Erza said.

Everyone's face dropped in disappointment.

"But, he did say some interesting things about himself, and he is actually a very nice kid, once you get him to open up." Erza said.

"wait, wait, wait. He just suddenly opened up to you last night out of nowhere? Why?" Lucy asked.

"Well…he didn't voluntarily open up. It was more like what others would call 'forced' him to." Erza said with a smile.

"And what would you call it?" Gajeel asked.

"Asking nicely." Erza nonchalantly said.

Everyone sweat dropped.

"I guess even Drue couldn't withstand the demonic wrath of Erza." Gray whispered into Natsu's ear.

"Yeah." Natsu replied back.

Suddenly, Erza grabbed both of their heads and smashed them together.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Erza threatened them to say it again. Both of them were laying on the floor in complete agony.

"We….we didn't say… anything!" both Natsu and Gray whimpered out from the floor, with their wounds smoking.

Everyone else slowly slid back a little as Erza sat back down in her seat.

"Anyways…that's all I have the liberty to say. He made me swear no to tell you guys. He said he might tell you guys later on, but I have doubts that he'll do that." Erza said.

"It won't matter anyway, Erza." Happy announced. Everyone looked at him.

"Oh, why is that Happy?" Lucy asked.

"Well, this may sound a little unorthodox, but we can send Wendy here to use her cuteness to seduce him into telling her, therefore she'll tell us." Happy said.

Wendy's face turned a darker shade than Erza's hair.

"W-w-w-why w-would you even s-s-suggest that?" Wendy stuttered out as she grabbed her cheeks.

Charle had a vain bulge out from her forehead and grabbed Happy by the knot around his neck.

"HE-CAT, how dare you even suggest Wendy to do such an inappropriate thing?! Especially with that kid!" Charle screamed as she forcefully jerked him around.

"I just thought since she has a crush on him, and that they're the same age that she could try to use her feminine wiles on him." Happy screamed, but his reasoning only made Charle jerk him around even harder and faster.

Wendy sat there with actual steam coming from her ears, and her face glowing a neon red.

"Oh, a crush? That's so adorable!" Both Lucy and Juvia squealed out.

"WAAAAAAH-" Wendy exclaimed as she shifted uncontrollably in her seat.

"Uhhh, that would not be a good idea." Erza said.

"You're darn right it's not!" Charle agreed as she continued shaking a now unconscious Happy.

"No, I mean it's _really_ not a good idea." Erza emphasized.

"Why is that? What, do you think she isn't good enough for a low standard person like him?" Charle asked as she pushed Happy's body down and placed her paws on her hips.

"Low standard?" Erza asked.

"So you're now saying that Wendy is not good enough for this boy?" Charle asked in an irritated tone.

"No, I'm not saying that at all. Besides, didn't you just say you didn't want Wendy to have a relationship with him?" Erza asked with a smirk.

"Yes, but I'm not going to idle by if you imply that Wendy is not cute nor good enough to be with _him._ I mean look at this. Who wouldn't want to be with someone this cute?" Charle asked as she grabbed Wendy's face and lifted her cheeks up to make a smile.

Wendy was chuckling out of embarrassment.

"Charle, please let go." Wendy asked.

"Yes, she's very cute, but saying it's not a good idea not because of Wendy's appearance and personality, nor Drue's." She tried to reason.

"then why is it not a good idea then?" Gray asked.

Erza crossed her arms and sighed.

"That's not really my place to say why exactly. If you want to know, then you'll have to ask Drue."

"Ask me what?" Drue said as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, they were going to ask you on what your opinion is on Wendy is and if she's good enough to have a relationship with someone." Juvia said.

"JUVIA-SAN!" Wendy screamed at the water mage.

"Okay, where did this come from?" Drue asked. He looked down at an unconscious Happy. "What happened to him? How long was I in there?" Drue asked.

"Forget him, now answer the question." Charle demanded in a stern tone, ignoring his question.

"I rather not answer such a frivolous question." Drue said as he avoided bumping into anyone and sat down.

"It's not frivolous, now answer the question." Charle demanded. She walked over and was now standing on Drue's lap.

"Oi, Charle!" Wendy whined.

"I'm not going to-"

"Drue." Erza interrupted. Drue looked over to her. She gestured her head towards Wendy and grunted.

"No." Drue said in a stern tone as he shook his head.

"Reconsider, at least tell her that-"

"ERZA-NEE, No!" Drue said in a much louder tone. Everyone was caught by surprise at this.

"Oi, oi, what's-" Natsu was about to say something, but Gray placed his hand on his shoulder, signaling for him to not to continue. Natsu complied.

"Tell m-m-me what?" Wendy asked. Drue looked over to her.

" It's nothing…. Wendy. Just some..uh…stuff that you really don't need to know." Drue said. Wendy wasn't buying his attempt to avoid the question, but she decided to let it pass for now and nodded.

The same man from the previous night walked in pushing a trolley presumably with the breakfast.

"Good Morning, everyone. I apologize, but we only have two choices for this morning's meal. We have an omelet filled with sausage, onions, peppers, cheese, with a side of hash browns. Also, we have a plate of sausage, eggs, bacon, hash browns, both with a cup of orange juice." The caterer informed.

After the man had concluded his informing, all the guys except Drue rampaged to the trolley and started emptying the contents for the food. The caterer was startled and had run off and screamed something involving with food demons.

"Does this always happen when food enters the room?" Drue asked.

All the girls sighed.

"sadly….yes. Well, might as well join them; I'm hungry myself." Lucy said as the rest of them except Drue, Erza, and Charle went over to the cart as well. Erza sat there looking at Drue with concern.

"What, Erza-nee?" Drue asked.

"You should of just told her right then and there Drue." Erza said.

Drue sighed as he pinched his temples.

"I already told you why I can't. You should respect my desires and not attempt to force me into something undesirable." Drue said.

"Drue, nothing about it is undesirable. Don't delude yourself into believing such an idea. You told me yourself last night that a large part of you really wants to tell her. Why do you torture yourself by continuing what you're doing, huh?" Erza said.

"What are you two talking about? And what exactly is it that you wish to tell Wendy?" Charle asked.

"It's nothing." Drue said in an irritated tone.

"*sigh* It's not nothing. Just be rid of this shackling feeling and just tell Wendy. It will be better than not telling her." Erza said.

"No. It will only make things worse later. I can't tell her and that's that. Besides, even if I did, I want it to be private, not when everyone else is around. Okay? End of discussion." Drue said.

"Wait-" Charle interjected.

"I said 'end of discussion' alright? Now just be quiet, they're coming back." Drue said.

"Hmph!" Charle grunted.

Wendy, Lucy, and Juvia came back holding six plates with the omelets, while Happy was holding seven cups of orange juice.

"Here you go Erza." Lucy handed Erza a plate, and Juvia handed Charle a plate as well.

"Um.." Wendy started "Here you go Drue. Hope you don't mind having this." She handed him the plate, and he accepted it.

"Thanks." Drue said as he took the plate and started eating the omelet. He started to stare out the window while eating and didn't say a single word for the rest of breakfast. The rest of the ride was relatively quiet.

**xXx**

The train had finally arrived at Chi Mania train station, and Natsu literally jumped out in rejoice.

"Finally, I'm free from the confinement of that moving, metal death trap!" Natsu yelled as he dropped to the floor and started kissing the floor.

"Natsu, I think you're exaggerating a bit. There's no need to kiss the floor." Happy said.

"No, that's a perfectly good reason to kiss the floor. Do you have any idea what's it like to be me and forced to tolerate my one weakness for hours?" Natsu yelled.

"No, but Natsu-san, can you please stop? People are staring at us." Wendy said. Natsu looked up to see that people were muttering and pointing at him.

"Hehe sorry." Natsu said as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Natsu then began gawk at the extraordinary design of the station's interior.

"Wow, this place is actually pretty nice for a train station."

There current location in the station was very nice. Marble floors that were placed adjacent to the two train track were well kept and reflected the sunlight that passed through the skylight in a very beautiful way. There was a rather large stair case that led to the main level of the station and was framed with intricate marble columns on the sides to support the regular ceiling just before the skylight glass. There was a group of five people utilizing orchestra music to play for travelers.

"Wow, this place is nice, isn't Charle?" Wendy asked.

"I guess." Charle responded.

"Alright, let's not idle by. So Drue, where to next?" Erza turned to Drue's location, only to see he wasn't there anymore.

"Drue?" Gray asked.

Erza whitened with incomprehensible shock and literally cracked.

"THAT LITTLE BRAT!" Erza screamed out in a terrifying voice.

"WHERE DID HE GO!?" Natsu and Gajeel screamed.

"Don't tell Juvia that he ditched us." Juvia said.

"You got to be kidding me." Lucy and Happy said.

"Hmmm, Where did he go, Charle?" Wendy asked. Charle shrugged her shoulders.

_So what was last night's conversation about then huh!? _Erza yelled in her thoughts.

"ALRIGHT, ALL OF YOU GO FIND HIM! I'M PISSED RIGHT NOW AND IF ANY OF YOU DON'T FIND DRUE, YOU'LL SUFFER IN HIS STEAD! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" Erza yelled at everyone.

"HAI!" Everyone complied and immediately ran off in various directions to find Drue, obviously not wanting to be the victims of Erza.

Wendy had run up the stairs and started surveying the rather ginormous room and smelling the air

"*sniff* *sniff* Ah, he's close by. Come on Charle." Wendy said as she started to run. Charle was flying along with her by her head.

A few meters away behind a wall, Drue hid away from her, panting.

_Crap, I need to get out of here, fast.._Drue thought as he started running through the large station, evading a collision with people to find an exit.

**AN: Please Rate & Review.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Drue was running throughout the entire station trying to find an exit. He knew he had at least been to a couple of exits, but they were either blocked by too many people, or the employees were doing some ill-timed renovations.

"Damnit, why are there so many people in the station? I have to get out of here now before *shudder* Erza-nee or the others find me!" Drue said as he started running and reached the main plaza-like area.

Drue skidded to a stop when he caught site of Gray and Juvia a mere five meters away from him. He jumped behind the nearest bamboo stand and peeked out to see them. Gray and Juvia were looking in various directions and asking people if they have seen him. Drue could hear what they were saying thanks to his heightened hearing.

* * *

"Excuse me sir, have you seen a kid around here running around with a shield and a yin-yang on his back?" Gray asked asked a very elderly man.

"Oh, I'm sorry young man, I haven't seen anyone of the likes of that." The elderly man replied in a raspy voice. Gray bowed and apologized for bothering him. The elderly man smiled and slowly walked away, clutching his cane.

Gray sighed as he walked over to Juvia.

"Any luck Juvia?" Gray asked.

"Sorry Gray-sama. Everyone I asked says they haven't seen him." Juvia said apologetically.

"It's alright. I don't understand how anyone can miss a kid with a big shield on his back. Plus, from what I've seen, his crème-blonde hair should have also make him easier to spot too." Gray said as he lightly kicked at the floor.

"Maybe we should go and check another section of the terminal." Juvia suggested.

Gray nodded.

Juvia stopped as soon as she caught sight of a nearby restaurant and grabbed Gray, trying to drag him there.

"Come Gray-sama, we can search in there while we eat a meal we can share." Juvia urged with hearts in her eyes.

"Juvia, we just ate an hour ago." Gray said.

"But..I'm hungry again and don't want to eat alone."

"But I'm not hungry and I want to hurry up and find Drue. I don't want to suffer Erza's wrath." Gray said.

'I don't care! I want to eat with you Gray-sama!" Juvia whined.

* * *

Drue sweat dropped at this sight.

"Well…I guess I can count on Juvia-san to keep Gray and herself occupied. Is that what they call love or a one-sided obsession?" Drue said to himself.

The man managing the stand had caught notice of Drue and spoke up.

"Hey kid, if you're not going to purchase my food, then don't loiter around my stand, lave!" The man had commanded.

"I'm sorry." Drue said as he bowed. Drue had sniffed the air and caught a familiar scent. He looked to his left and saw Gajeel heading right for him.

"OI! I FOUND HIM!" Gajeel announced as he started running towards him. Gray and Juvia looked toward the source of the yelling and saw Drue as well.

"WAIT DRUE!" Gray said as he started running to him.

"CRAP! I was distracted to even notice him sooner." Drue exclaimed. He looked toward the man in the stand.

"I'm sorry." Drue said as he picked up the stand and threw it at Gajeel, successfully hitting him and knocking him down due to the force. Drue started running.

"Wait….. Ice Make: Bazooka!" Gray screamed as he brought his palms together and launched a large beam of razor ice towards him.

Drue turned around immediately.

"Water Dragon's Slice" Drue exclaimed as he swiftly brought his right arm and sliced the beam, completely disintegrating and reverting the attack into water.

"What?" Gray questioned. He and Juvia started running toward him in the water.

_Why do they continue to do this? _Drue thought. He brought both his arms up and slammed his hands down into the water.

"Thunder Dragon's Electric Stream." He said as he sent an array of blue lightning coursing through the water and shocking both of them.

"AHHHHHH!" Both of them yelled as they fell to the floor and were barely supporting themselves on their elbows

"It's only a minor shock. Even though I want you to cease following me, I still don't want to hurt you too much." Drue said. He saw a dark figure at the corner of his eyes.

"Iron Dragon's Sword!" Gajeel yelled as he swiped his large razor sword as Drue. Drue had managed to pull his shield from his back and blocked the attack.

"Gee-Hee, nice, you countered my attack that quickly. Now let me pay you back for yesterday kid." Gajeel said as he glared at the kid.

"Come on, Gajeel-san, is this really necessary right now?" Drue asked, but his question was answered as Gajeel turned his other arm into a pillar.

"Iron Dragon's Pillar." Drue had ducked and swiftly swiped at Gajeel's feet, knocking down.

Drue had grabbed the floor and shifted to where he forcefully brought down his leg.

"Thunder Dragon's Talons" Drue yelled as his foot made contact with Gajeel's abdomen and sent him crashing into the floor and leaving a large crater.

"AHHHH!" Gajeel yelled.

Drue had immediately stood up and placed his shield n his back.

"Sorry, Gajeel-san." Drue said.

"DRUE!" Drue looked up to see Natsu and Lucy running at full speed towards him, with Happy flying at full speed. Drue jumped back little and started running towards a large archway.

"What is with these guys?! Thunder Dragon's Wing Slash!" Drue yelled as he directed two vigorous arrays of lightning at the supporting frames of the arch and caused a minor explosion. The arch soon came crumpling down and Drue managed to slide to the other side before the debris blocked the path.

This didn't make Natsu falter as he charged his attack.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He yelled as he cleared a path and continued his chase. Drue had stopped by another set of tracks and heard him coming.

Natsu stood directly in front of him, ready for a fight.

"Hehe, nowhere to run Drue. Now just come with me, so I don't have to face Erza." Natsu said.

Drue lost his composure for a second and his eyes turned white with fury.

"So you'll have me suffer in your stead instead!? What the heck!" Drue screamed at him.

"Sorry Drue, but Erza is really ticked off right now, and no one wants to deal with it. She said if we don't get you, she'll torture us instead." Natsu explained. Drue was surprised at this.

_Is she that concerned about me? No…..she must want me around long enough to where I'll tell Wendy. Yeah..that's probably it, for Wendy's sake only, huh? _Drue thought.

"Fire Dragon's-" Natsu began as he charged at him.

"Water Dragon's-" Drue also charged an attack.

"IRON FIST!" Both their fist collided and the resulting impact sent their corresponding elements backfiring around them and destroying everything else. Guard rails were torn from the floor, the skylight shattered, and the concession stands were blown away along with the owners.

Both Dragon Slayer withdrew their fist and glared at one another.

"Natsu-san, stop this and let me go. I don't want to continue this nonsense." Drue said.

Natsu smirked," Sorry, Drue, I don't want to be the one beaten to a pulp under Erza's boot."

Lucy and Happy had made it to their location and were spectating the fight.

"Come on Natsu, you can beat him!" Happy cheered for his friend.

Drue then heard an approaching train coming directly down the tracks they were near by. Drue looked over his shoulders to affirm this and saw a train coming at high speeds. Drue had a horrible idea.

Drue instantly appeared in front of Natsu and grabbed him by his vest. The train had reached the station and was still travelling by.

"Sorry Natsu-san!" Drue apologized as he threw Natsu with some force.

"AHHHHH!" Natsu yelled as he collided with a window and crashed inside the cart. The moment he landed, his severe motion-sickness took control, and his cheeks were beginning to ooze.

"COME SAVE ME!" Natsu managed to scream as the train just left the station.

"NATSU!" Happy screamed as he flew at top speed to catch up with the train.

Lucy stood there in shock as she stared at the young slayer.

"Uh…Drue, don't you think that was a little harsh to do that to Natsu?" Lucy asked.

Drue only glowered at her. Lucy was waiting for a reply, but only received a grunt as Drue started to run off, disappearing instantly into the crowd.

Lucy exhaled slowly and looked down towards her feet.

"Why does he always look at me like that?" Lucy pondered over this. "Did I do something wrong or upset him somehow? That look….it was such a…..distant look." Lucy rest her chin on her knuckles.

* * *

Drue had stopped running and was resting against a window near a café. He was catching his breath.

"*pant* *pant* oh, master would be so disappointed in me for my inability to even escape these dander-heads. I…I guess those years of training were for naught then apparently." Drue huffed as he inhaled a large breath and stood up.

Drue smiled slightly

"But…this is kind of….um what's that word?" Drue asked himself. "What was it? Oh, yeah….fun."

Drue started to walk to his right, but he accidently bumped into someone.

"oh I'm sorry-AHHHH!" Drue screamed. He had accidently bumped into Wendy and Charle.

"Huh? Drue. I found you!" Wendy exclaimed.

"You are one hard-to-find person." Charle said as she floated up to his eye level.

"Yeah, I've been getting that. Well see ya." Drue said as he started to walk away.

"Wait, Drue! You can't leave; we have to get you back to Erza-san." Wendy said as she started to run up to him.

"And suffer her wrath? I don't think so. I didn't expect Erza-nee to be so forceful and scary, and I don't want to deal with that so bye." Drue said as he waved at her and started to leave.

"WAIT!" Wendy yelled as she grabbed his hand. Drue was startled by this.

"Please can you just come back with me." Wendy begged as she started to make a puppy dog face and quivered her lips.

_Well what do you know. She can pull that off really well. Kind of cute, but ineffective against me._ Drue thought as he tried to pull his hand away, but Wendy had a strong grasp on his hand.

"Wendy can you please let go?" Drue said.

"NO!" Wendy said.

Drue looked at Charle for help, but she just floated there without saying a word.

_Ah, great. Well now what am I supposed to do? I can't bring myself to hurt her like I did to the others. _Drue thought.

Drue was pulling at his hand and nearly got it free, but Wendy took the initiative and lunged out at him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Ah, come on!" Drue said. He grabbed her shoulders and tried to push her off, but she had a surprisingly good hold on him.

"Wendy come on. Let go."

"No, I won't let go until you agree to come back." Wendy said as she looked up at him with a pink tint on her cheeks.

People were now starting to stare and laugh at the site before them.

"AHHH, look, he's getting flustered that his girlfriend is hugging him." A girl said.

"How kawai!" A women squealed.

"Look, she's blushing." A man jeered.

"Young love is wonderful isn't it everyone." Another woman yelled.

Wendy was blushing furiously after each comment.

_This is so embarrassing!_ Both Wendy and Drue thought.

Drue and Wendy were looking everywhere but at each other. Drue finally looked down slightly at her

_Wait, is she blushing? Crap, she's getting the wrong idea about me. Wait….that gives me an idea though. _Drue thought as he smirked.

"Yeah everyone she's cute alright. We just started dating, and I'm not used to this, so it caught me of guard for a sec." Drue announced to everyone as he wrapped his arm around Wendy.

"EHHH?!" Wendy and Charle said in surprise.

"W-w-what a-are you t-talking a-about?" Wendy asked with a deep red blush on her face.

"No! I absolutely forbid this!" Charle screamed as she waved her paw at Drue.

"Yeah, we're both new at dating so things are a little awkward right now, but I know we'll eventually get better at this and progress the relationship." Drue said as he brought their heads closer together.

"AHHHHH!" Everyone around them sighed and squealed.

"So cute!" A girl said.

"Waaaaah!" Wendy was completely flustered and couldn't say anything. But her grasp on Drue wasn't faltering.

_Dang, even embarrassing her like this still isn't making lose her grip? I'll give her props for that. _Drue thought.

"I'm going to have to do something drastic." Drue whispered to himself, but since Wendy was really close to him, she could hear him. She slowly looked up.

"W-what are you g-going to do?" She asked.

Her question was immediately answered as Drue wiped away her bangs, leaned forward and lightly kissed her forehead. Wendy's reaction was instantaneous. She immediately turned a bright red that matched Erza's hair and soon fell over in shock.

"Waaaaaaaaaaah-" Wendy was laying on the ground with her eyes swirling and steam coming from her ears.

"Wendy!" Charle yelled as she dropped to her side and tried to bring the girl back to her senses. "You barbarian!"

Drue leaned over slightly over her.

"Sorry Wendy, but I need to go." Drue smirked. His smirk soon faded as he heard knuckles being cracked and an cold feel being sent down his spine.

"So, you think you're going to leave, huh?" Drue slowly turned hi head and saw Erza with a menacing dark aura around her.

"E-Erza-nee, w-when did you get there?" Drue asked as he slowly started to back away, but with each step, Erza took a step forward.

"Long enough to see what you just did. Now….come quietly or there's going to be some torture." Erza said as she drew a sword and had a rope in her other hand.

Drue gulped and he started to run at the speed of light. Erza smirked and changed into her Soaring Empress Armor. She instantly lunged towards Drue.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Drue screamed at the top of his lungs.

* * *

Drue was sitting beside Erza battered and bruised while tied up in the rope Erza had. Erza was holding the other end of the rope and was dragging Drue with her as she, Wendy and Charle were walking through the terminal. Gray, Juvia and Gajeel had finally caught up with them and cringed as soon as they saw the injuries inflicted on Drue.

"Oh, well sucks to be him right now." Gray said. Juvia looked over to Wendy and saw she was rather red in the face.

"Wendy, what's wrong? Why are you all red?" Juvia asked. Wendy didn't respond and only looked at her feet, still flushed from what happened.

"Minna, over here!" They heard Lucy yell. She was slowly walking over to them with Natsu around her shoulders. Natsu was still sick from the ride and couldn't even walk.

"Oi, Salamander, what happened to you? You look like crap." Gajeel asked.

"Well, Drue threw Natsu into a moving train, and I had to fly at max speed to get him." Happy said.

"Ha!" Gajeel and Gray laughed.

"D-don't*gag* laugh at me. I'll get you for that Drue." Natsu said as he pointed to him.

"Alright, I think we've spent enough time here, now let's leave." Erza said as she started walking towards the exit along with everyone.

"HEY!" A stern voice caught their attention and made them stop. They looked to their left and saw a rather large, bald man wearing a suit stomping towards them.

"Can we help you?" Erza asked.

"Yes. I'm the manager of this station, and do you guys think you can just walk out of here without paying for the property damage you all caused?!" The man said as he pointed to the inside.

Everyone looked to see the damaged they caused. Shattered flooring, destroyed shops, overturned tables, mutilated people, shattered skylights, archway debris, etc.

"Ohhh." They all groaned.

"Now, I should call the authorities and charge you all right here, but since I can see you're all members of that rambunctious guild Fairy Tail, I'll just address the build to there." The manager said.

"I told you all to catch one person, ONE! And you all still caused collateral damage in the process? Honestly." Erza scolded them as she pinched her temples.

"Well, he retaliated and-" Gajeel started.

"I DON'T CARE!" She screamed at them all. "Now, how much will the damages cost?"

"Hmm…I would say at least 7 million jewel." The manager said.

Everyone went white with shock and exasperation and cracked at the mention of the bill. Erza glared at Drue.

"What?" Drue coward under her gaze.

Erza gave him one more uppercut to his head, leaving a very large bump on his head.

"Ow" Drue groaned from the floor.

"Fine, just send the bill to Fairy Tail. Mavis knows what the master will do to us when we return." Erza said as she started walking to the exit and dragged Drue with her. Everyone else followed.

They exited the station and began walking towards the town.

_Good grief, all that just to catch this kid. I'm worried what he'll do next…_Erza thought.

**An: Please Rate & Review**

**Wendy: "Thanks for reading. Wait, why did Drue kiss my forehead?"**

**Drue: " Yeah, why did I have to do that? I could have done many other different things to escape."**

**Me: I thought it would funny. Why, did you not like it?**

**Drue: Kind of. What about you Wendy?**

**Wendy (blushing): Well, I….uh…**

**Me: You liked it, didn't you?**

**Wendy: Etto…**

**ME: Alright see you next chapter!**

**Drue: Yeah!**


	13. Author's Note

**AN: **

**Sorry that this isn't a real chapter and that I haven't updated in a while. I just want to say that I'll be releasing a drawing of what my OC, Drue, looks like. I know my description of him in the story wasn't very distinctive, and I apologize for that. You won't be dissapointed with the drawing- he looks exactly like a character would in Fairy Tail. I'll have a link to the image and replace my avatar with it.**

**Drue: Yeah! I get to finally have my handsome face be seen!**

**Me: Okay? Bye. *Fairy Tail Salute***

**Drue: Yeah bye.**

**Me: why aren't you doing the salute?**

**Drue: it's too early for me to do that, sorry. :)**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"I can't believe this Drue… 7 Million Jewel!" Erza screamed at the crème-blonde for the millionth time….. that minute. With each time, Drue slowly and slowly sunk further into the pavement. All of our characters were now outside the station off to the left of the main entrance. The station's exterior was a simple, steel-framed structure with various octagon window patterns. They occupied a row of seats and watched Erza ventilate her anger at Drue.

"Ooooooh, Juvia doesn't think Erza-san will stop this any time soon." Juvia said as she looked up at a clock that hung from the steel overhang above them.

"She's been yelling at him for the past thirty minutes. I'm surprised her voice has yet to break, or Drue not retorting at all." Charle said from her seat on Wendy's lap.

Everyone nodded at her statement.

"Well, when Erza becomes really furious like this, she can continue reprimanding someone for days straight." Natsu said with slight worry in his voice. Natsu was sympathetic to Drue's current predicament. He was always scolded by Erza when he was younger, and every time, he did not enjoy it one bit.

"Yeah….I remember when Flame-Head and I accidently ate her strawberry cake when we were 10. After a merciless beating, she nearly chewed off our ears and nearly rendered us to being deaf." Gray said, fully clothed for once.

"I said it was an accident!" Drue yelled back at Erza.

"What was done in there was no accident Drue!" Erza yelled as her head tripled in size and she bumped her head against his.

"YOU DESTROYED MULTIPLE SHOPS, DEMOLISHED THE STRUCTURES HOLDING SECTIONS OF THE BUILDING UP, ELECTROCUTED SOME OF US, AND WHAT YOU DID TO WENDY WAS JUST UNETHICAL! AND YOU CALL ALL THAT "AN ACCIDENT"!?" She screamed directly into his sensitive ears. Drue was wincing in pain and his left eye was starting to water from the pain.

"I COULD HAVE DONE WORSE!" Drue retorted, only to receive another uppercut to the head. Drue now laid on the ground in agony as his bruise was smoking.

"Nothing is worse than causing 7 million jewels worth of damages. Mavis knows the gasket the master will blow once he receives the bill. And we just finished paying the mortgage for the new guild hall." Erza said as she pinched her temples and tried the 'inhaling-exhaling' relaxing strategy.

It was silent for a moment.

Drue recuperated and slowly sat back up.

_God!...I make a supposed mistake , and get tied and beaten to pulp as a result. They were the ones who first used magic to try and apprehend me, not me! _Drue sneered as he turned his head.

_Besides, I was only concerned with the well-being of all of you. _Drue shifted his head to look at everyone. His face slightly relaxed.

_The man I plan to confront is no ordinary individual. His power alone, if I remember correctly, possibly rivals that of a Wizard Saint. I know that none of you will be able to stand a fighting chance against such an opponent, and I have my own doubts against myself. Not only that, he doesn't eliminate his foes in an instant. He derives his satisfaction from seeing them suffer before his hands before conducting a slow, painful kill. I tried to escape in order to protect all of you and ensure you all live your lives to the potential it has._

_I can't bare myself to relive such an experience and be the cause of other's lives lost. Especially yours…_ Drue looks at her…_Wendy. I could never face…her in the afterlife if I failed to protect you._ Drue thought as he lowered his head.

"What did Drue do to Wendy?" Lucy asked to break the silence.

Both Drue and Wendy straightened up and became completely flustered…..well Wendy did.

"I-i-it was n-n-nothing, Lucy-san. Really." Wendy stuttered as a deep red blush appeared on her cheeks and waved her hands frantically in front of her.

"Oh? Then why are you blushing different shades then?" Juvia smirked at the young girl.

"I'm not blushing, and it was really nothing okay. Drue didn't do anything that's worth sharing, honest. Right Drue?" Wendy said as she grabbed the collar of her dress and closed her eyes.

"Y-yeah, it's nothing really important to talk about and to never, ever bring up again, ok?" Drue emphasized as he turned the other direction.

Everyone else exchanged disbelieving looks between each other and continued to look back and forth between the two kids. They knew they were lying (horribly) and wanted to find out, but most of them decided not to ask for now.

"Hehe, both of you seem to be getting flustered, especially you Wendy. What happened between you two?" Happy slightly chuckled out as he place his paw over his mouth.

"Nothing happened, He-cat. End of discussion understood!" Charle said in a harsh tone towards him as she punched him into the distance.

"AYYYYYEEEE!" Happy screamed as he disappeared in the distance.

Silence fell onto the group, and Erza was breathing very sharply to calm down.

"Alright…..I think we've been here long enough. Let's head towards the town and see what our next course of action is, okay?" Erza said.

Everyone nodded.

Erza grabbed the end of the rope holding Drue and her enormous amount of luggage and started walking. The others followed.

* * *

The path between the town and the station was pretty straight-forward and long. It was a cobblestone path that had many commuters walking from and to the station. Rows of lilies and roses framed the edges of the path and large acres of vegetation ventured off in both directions. To not disturb the beauty of nature in its prime, there were no shops or buildings stationed anywhere near the path.

"Ugghhhh, man, it looks like we won't be able to eat anything until we get to the town." Natsu groaned. "Who was the idiot that decided not to put at least one food stand here?"

Natsu's stomach growled like a beast.

"Hm, you're pitiful Salamander. You can't go one moment without food, and you whine like a child in the process. You should be more of a Dragon and tough it out." Gajeel insulted. But his words were rendered meaningless as he took a bite out of a disk of iron.

"THEN WHY DON'T YOU SAY THAT WITHOUT EATING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!?" Natsu yelled at the Iron dragon.

"Can't. I'm hungry, so I'm eating this." Gajeel stated with smirk.

Natsu growled.

"OI, Natsu, calm down. I promise once we get to the town, I'll buy you a nice lunch from the closest stand. Does that sound good?" Lucy asked.

She got her response when Natsu picked her up and started sprinting to the city.

"AHHHHHHHH, NATSU, PUT ME DOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWN!" Lucy yelled as she was carried off and was out of sight from the rest of the group.

Everyone else and a few commuters began laughing.

"HAHAHA, I'll admit, Hot-Head knows how to be hysterical at times." Gray said as he wiped a tear away from his eye.

"Juvia's love rival, Lucy, is attracting the attention of Gray-sama. Juvia will never forgive her for utilizing her feminine wiles. Juvia must use her own." Juvia internally roared as a dark aura enveloped her being.

"Na, na, Gray-sama-" Juvia said as she grabbed his arm,"- would you like it if Juvia purchased a meal for you?" She finished in a seductive tone.

"WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOU!?" Gray yelled as he pulled his arm away and started running.

"GRAY-SAMA!" Juvia yelled as she chased him.

"Oh….my…..god." Gajeel groaned as he face palmed.

Wendy chuckled at the antics of her guild mates. She looked up at Gajeel.

"Say, Gajeel-san, may I ask you something?" She asked. The Iron Dragon grunted in response and peeked out of the corner of his eye at the girl.

"How long have you been in the guild?"

"Hm, barely a week and I already can't stand these people." Gajeel spat out as he took a bite of his iron disk.

"Then why are you staying?"

"I need work, and this guild was the closest one around."

"Isn't it true that you destroyed the guild though? Why would they accept you after you did that?" Charle interjected.

"Tch, I don't know. You'll have to ask the old man. The only reason I'm staying is because of Juvia. She may be awkward at times, but she's a good person and the only one that surprisingly cares about me." Gajeel scoffed as he started to walk ahead, trying to avoid any further communication. Truth is, Gajeel was accepted because Makarov didn't want Gajeel to subject himself to the shadows and throw away his life. The old man was willing to let the deeds he did pass and allow him into the guild. Makarov even appointed him a special mission that he really wanted to share with the others, but he was forbidden from doing so.

He groaned in frustration and continued his walk, hoping to catch up with Juvia.

Wendy smiled at him.

"What's with the smile?" Charle asked.

"Mm? Oh, I was just thinking that it is nice to know that Gajeel-san has at least one person he's on good terms with. At least he's not segregated from the rest of the guild." Wendy said.

* * *

Erza and Drue were deafly silent between each other. The only other person that kept talking to lighten the mood was Happy. Happy decided to be with Drue to keep him company and not suffer alone with Erza. Happy actually didn't like how their first interaction with each other was yelling the previous night, so he wanted to start fresh with Drue.

"Ahhhh, you're lap is very comfortable Drue. Why can't anyone else have one?" Happy said as he rested himself and grinned at the boy. Only to have it drop when Drue didn't reply.

Drue had a forlorn look plastered on his face and seemed to be In deep thought. A shadow enveloped his eyes, and his lip was quivering slightly.

Erza noted this.

"What's wrong Drue?" She asked. Drue looked up from under his bangs.

"Nothing." He replied dryly. Erza sighed after that.

"Drue, I thought you and I came to some sort of agreement that you wouldn't be so content with me. You said you trusted me to talk about anything, but that information is useless if you're not willing to follow through with it." Erza said.

Drue looked up.

"Alright, Erza-nee."

There was a slight pause before he continued.

"Why did you still persevere to find me in the station? You could have been rid of me and gone back to the guild with the others."

Erza merely stared at the incapacitated crème-blonde.

"Why would I do that?"

"Wait, I think I know why…..Wendy?" Drue asked, "Is it because you still want me to tell Wendy before I even seize the chance to leave right?. That's the only reason why you decided to come after me isn't it?"

Erza stared at him. A smirk appeared on his features and he turned away.

"Figures. That can be the only reason why you would do such a thing. *sigh* I don't even know why I bothered to ask, nor do I know why I'm still tied up when I can easily escape such a weak knot." Drue started pushing his arms out to expand the ropes.

"Uh…" Drue was struggling to get free and fruitlessly tried to break free.

"Okay,…wait a second." Drue tried to charge his magic but nothing appeared.

"Huh, don't tell me…..these ropes are enchanted to prevent me from using magic, aren't they?"

Erza smirked and a twinkle flashed in the corner of her eyes. Drue's head fell over in exasperation and Happy started to laugh uncontrollably.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE! YOU'RE AS USELESS AS LUCY RIGHT NOW, HAHAHAHA!" Happy started rolling around in his lap. Drue's eyes turned white and a menacing aura surrounded him.

"Damnit Happy, ONCE I GET FREE, I'M COMING FOR YOU!" Drue screamed at the cat, but this only resulted in Happy laughing even harder. Drue was attempting to get free now for only one purpose: strangle Happy.

"That's not the only reason why." Erza added. Drue ceased his actions and looked up at the Armor mage with curiosity.

"Drue, you're just like me...when I was younger. I know what thoughts are being processed in that head of yours and what emotional troubles that profusely gnaw at your stomach. You're thinking nothing but revenge and feeling nothing but sorrow-"

"You got that right!"

"-but from my cognitive knowledge, you're letting your hatred and feelings of vengeance consume your every action and thoughts."

Drue squinted his eyes and glowered at the words that were coming from her mouth.

"And what's wrong with having an ambition fuel you and push you to venture through the harsh reality of life?" He asked dryly.

"Not 'ambition', a 'vendetta'. You're letting your hatred towards this man create every action you make. I know that because I to held such an unfathomable hatred towards my captors as well. Everyday, my hatred grew and grew until it was the only feeling I felt, other than fear, and every fiber of my being yearned to kill them."

"And why didn't you? From the rumors, it was said you were capable of utilizing powerful magic during the rebellion. Magic far more than needed to eliminate such weaklings, why didn't you kill them and satisfy your desire?"

"Because I had my friends and conscience to always pull me forward to the light and away from the darkness." Erza proclaimed in a stern tone. Drue gasped after that statement.

"The friends I had with me in that accursed tower kept me strong and gave me the will and support needed to continue on." Erza said, "Didn't you?"

Drue averted her eyes and looked down at his lap, subsequently, Happy too.

"You overcame your hatred and darkness because of your friends?...Such nonsense." Drue stated grimly.

"Nakama…the true source of suffering is nakama, both with the absence and presence."

Erza furrowed her brows to the boy.

" I never had friends when I was a child. Even in captivity, the other children always sought out to isolate me because I was….'different' to them. I find it to be amusing, even though we were all in the same position, people still seek to segregate others to establish a sense of belonging and some form of superiority."

"What about your sister?"

"Hehe, her situation was the complete opposite. She was loved among the other children. She was the type to always win the immediate trust and friendship of people while I was mostly alone. Nee-chan always tried to get the other kids to like me, but it was fruitless. They continued to ignore my presence. Even though my sister tried to compensate and show me all the love she could, I always felt empty and depressed and eventually….. I neglected her. All I did was listen to the guards and prayed that I wouldn't suffer punishment. Nothing more, that's all I did. Unlike you, I never had friends to 'pull me away from my darkness'."

"Wait, how could you neglect your own sister. Wasn't she the only family you had remaining?"

"You have to try and empathize with my feelings. I was envious of my sister and that envy evolved into jealousy and resentment. I was always alone and yet she gained more friends than she could account for. From the solitude, I learned to cope with the loneliness and go through with the rest of my life with a content demeanor. I was alone and will continue to be alone" Drue said," Now, just release me so I can leave and continue that lifestyle."

Erza sighed.

"No, I'm not going to release you now, especially with what you just told me."

"Why? Why do you even bother dealing with me? I'm a loss and don't deserve any of your time."

"That's one reason why: you constantly bash yourself and lower your own self-esteem. You're not a loss; you're not trash, and you're not an outcast. You're a human being who had the inconvenience of experiencing isolation and psychological torment at an early age. I can't just neglect someone and leave them to continue living with that like you want. That's not how I am, and that's not how a Fairy Tail Wizard is either." Erza stated.

"Erza." Happy said. Drue's expression didn't falter. His glower only intensified as he listened to the scarlet-head.

"Also….you say you'll always be alone. That will be true if you continue not to socialize with others and make a connection." Erza said.

"Yeah…" Drue said in a sarcastic tone.

"It's true. I have an idea, how about Wendy."

"What about her?" He spat at Erza.

"Well, why don't you try and build a stronger relationship with her? Out of everyone here, she's the easiest person you'll establish a friendship with. She is your family is she not?" Erza said with an arched brow.

Drue sighed as his face relaxed.

"Family? What are you two talking about?" Happy asked.

Drue looked up at the blue feline. Drue knew Happy was the type to not keep secrets, but the secrets the cat sometimes spilled were only minor ones like "he has….or she does this".

"Wendy is…my cousin, Happy." Drue revealed to the blue cat.

"EHHHHHHH!" Happy screamed in surprise. Drue looked over his shoulder to see if Wendy had heard anything. Luckily for him, Wendy was a reasonable distance away where he knew they were out of her dragon-like hearing. She didn't turn around at all and appeared to have Charle in her arms.

"C-c-c-cousin?" Happy was utterly shocked.

"Yeah. My…..cousin." Drue repeated.

"B-but how. Even for cousins, I don't see the slightest resemblance between the two of you." Happy said.

"Yeah, well it's sort of complicated in a nut shell Happy."

"Oh, how so?" Happy asked as he tilted his head in curiosity.

"Not important right now. Be that as it may be, she's your cousin, and yet she still doesn't know about it. You might want to tell her soon, so she doesn't get any other ideas. Especially after what you did in the station." Erza said.

"I'm not going to tell her." Drue replied.

Erza sighed at his resilience.

"And why not? She is actually a very kind person, as are _you,_ and you two would develop a great relationship."

"The reason why is because I tried the 'cousin' thing once, and it didn't turn out so well. Besides, Wendy is some-what a naïve girl. Our personalities are a complete contradiction of one another, and she would never understand anything about me or what I've gone through. And I don't want to introduce that to her either. She's still young and deserves to not even acknowledge that reality yet, unlike me, and I don't want her to pity me either. It's bad enough that you two pity me already, but It would be worse to have your own relative pity you as well."

Happy and Erza stared at the boy. Sadness written all over their faces.

"Erza-san!" They heard Wendy call out. The three of them turned to look at the dark-blue haired girl.

"We're almost at the town. We should be there in maybe a couple minutes." Wendy proclaimed happily as she pointed to a town in the distance.

"Okay." Erza replied back. She turned her attention to Drue.

"Happy…..Erza-nee already knows that I don't want anyone else to tell her about me, and I expect you to do the same as well." Drue said.

"B-but-" Happy started.

"Don't tell her. I'm trusting you Happy. Please, don't." Drue pleaded as he lowered his head.

"A-aye." Happy said softly.

They turned to see that the town was close and just started entering the outskirts of the city.

**AN: Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while. I'm experiencing severe writers block and this story is giving me a lot of trouble. What did you guys think? Any advice would be much appreciated. :D Oh, and my drawing on Drue will be released next chapter; I'm still refinalizing it.**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

"Wow, this town already looks amazing." Wendy sighed in delight as she basked in the sights before her.

The outskirts of the town had already emanated a warm embrace to our last main mages that had finally entered. Many of the structures in the outskirts were composed of well-varnished homes made from oak and spruce. The windows were covered with wooden window blinds that were inverted diagonally to allow light to pass through down. The streets were paved with rectangular cobblestones that created circular shapes and what-not. Along the streets, various Lily trees framed the sides and some petals fell from them, which complimented the scenery. Lastly, various paper lanterns hung from ropes tied to the buildings.

"Oh, Welcome to Chi Mania young travelers." A man called out from a nearby concession stand. Wendy and Erza walked over to his stand and were blessed with the aroma of sweets ranging from dangos to flavored ice shavings**( AN: I originate from a Monsoon Asian country and the shave ice is like a substitute for ice cream-even though we do have ice cream- and is very common. It's called "Patbinsu").**

"Ahhhh, everything here smells wonderful." Wendy squealed as she inhaled a large breath.

"Why thank you young lady. Here, have a free sample." The man said as he gave her a small bowl of strawberry flavored ice.

"Oh, thank you very much, but why for free?" Wendy asked.

"Ah it's that time of the year where we receive the most amount of visitors for the annual Fall Equinox Festival, and I like to give some visitors a free item as a way to welcome them and wish them a great experience." The man explained as he took out three more bowls and handed them to Erza, Charle, and Happy.

"Equinox Festival? That sounds interesting." Erza said as she took a bite of the treat.

The man nodded," It is quite an experience. We celebrate the natural transition of nature into Fall and throw a great festival in the streets. We provide games, lovely performances and at the moment of midnight, we shoot up an array of beautiful fireworks into the night sky. Also to add to the festival, the falling Lily leaves give it a extravagant look as you can tell." The man gestured to the streets.

"When does it take place?" Happy asked.

"Tomorrow night." The man replied.

"Oh , that explains why there were a large quantity of people in the station and on the road too." Wendy said as she took a bite and squealed like a school girl. She looked down to Drue, whom had rather incomprehensible look of extreme boredom. Wendy walked around Erza and kneeled down next to him.

"Drue?"

Drue only shifted his eyes to look at her.

"What?" He asked negatively.

"You look depressed, here, have a bite." Wendy offered as she brought the spoon close to his mouth. Drue looked at her with his expression not faltering.

"*sigh*No thanks Wendy. I don't particularly enjoy sweets, especially shaved ice. Just eat it yourself." Drue declined as he looked away from her. Wendy's face dropped a little in disappointment.

"But Drue-"

"Wendy, just leave this kid alone. He's not worth your time." Charle said.

"Hey, Charle!" Wendy tried to reprimand her companion's words. Drue lowered his head after that comment and closed his eyes. Erza recognized this action and turned to Charle.

"Oi, Charle, it's not proper to disregard someone like that. For once, think about the other person and keep your insults to yourself, understand?" Erza scolded in a stern tone. Charle arched her eyebrow while Wendy stood surprised.

"Erza-san-" Wendy said in a whisper.

"Where did this come all of a sudden? Less than half-an-hour ago you were yelling and scolding him, but you're suddenly defending him now. And your association with him has also been different since this morning. What's going on?" Charle asked. Drue turned his head to look up at Erza with some slight worry.

_Please don't say anything, please don't say anything, please don't say anything! _Drue repeated in his head.

Erza looked between him and Charle.

"Well, you see-" Happy tried to explain.

"Happy, no!" Drue said at the feline resting on the top of his head in a low growl. Happy began to tremble from being the victim of the inhuman growl Drue exhibited yet again.

Wendy and Charle stood speechless and disdained from this. Charle in particular looked at the facial expressions on both of their faces. She also noted the facial features on Erza dropping into a look of slight sadness.

Just then, an explosion was produced in a nearby street, and civilians were running from the location.

"What was that?" Wendy asked as she narrowed her eyes. All of them immediately ran toward the source of the explosion and saw a cloud of smoke preventing them from seeing what was occurring within a shop.

"AHHHHHHH, YOU ICE PICK, THAT WAS THE LAST ONE!" A familiar voice yelled.

"WELL YOU ATE ALL THE OTHERS, CHILI BREATH!" another familiar voice retorted.

"Oh, no." Drue muttered to himself.

The smoke had soon dissipated to reveal Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel fighting with the rubble of a nearly destroyed buffet. Lucy and Juvia were standing close to one of the last remaining standing walls watching the brawl.

Erza couldn't believe the sight before her as her eye began twitching profusely and a few bulges emerged within her forehead.

"Wendy…..hold this." Erza commanded in a seemingly calm voice as she relinquished the rope holding Drue to her.

"Ehhh?" Wendy moaned as she grabbed hold of it. Erza began walking toward the restaurant in a slow yet menacing pace, along with a dark aura that no evil could even measure up to. Wendy and Drue shifted their heads to face each other, subsequently Happy and Charle too. They all had one idea in common and showed the same look of terror on their faces.

"Oh…..god." Wendy and Drue said simultaneously.

The scuffle continued between the three for a few more seconds until the sounds of earth-quaking footsteps pierced their eardrums. They reluctantly looked up to see Erza with glowering red eyes, sheathed 'fangs', and her cracking her knuckles. All men began to accumulated cold sweats and staggered up to their feet.

"Erza! Look, it's not what you think," Gray squeaked out with his hands held up in front of him.

"Oh?" Erza said with some pseudo-curiosity as she slowly drew her sword. All three men began trembling in their shoes.

"Y-yeah, we weren't fighting each other. T-there was a-a roach in the restaurant and the customers were freaking out, so we as the heroes we are took it upon ourselves to kill it." Natsu said, complying with Gray's attempt to avoid Erza's wrath.

"Then why did I hear Gray scream 'you ate all the others'? I thought there was only one 'roach'" Erza asked as she summoned a second sword.

"Oh, there were more that showed up and like the idiot he is, Salamander decided the best way to eliminate them was to eat them. Gray soon did the same thing just before you arrived." Gajeel chuckled out nervously. He received a slight glare from both the fire and ice mages.

"They are so dead. That was the worst lie I have ever heard in my entire life." Drue said aloud to where only Wendy and the two cats could hear him.

"Y-yeah." Wendy agreed.

"Alright, I'm not even going to say anything else. I'm just going to attack you, and it's going to hurt like hell…so PREPARE YOURSELVES!" Erza screamed as she launched herself towards them. All three mages held each other in an embrace and screamed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHH!"

"Ooooh, well….." Drue started as he cringed at every earth shaking blow Erza inflicted on the three.

"Yeah…." Wendy trailed on with her eyes closed and a sheepish smile adorning her lips.

"Aye." Happy said. Charle didn't comment because she was focused on eyeing Drue. She was pondering over different explanations and conclusions to what Happy was about to say about Drue.

Her chain of thought was interrupted as Natsu landed hard on the ground before them. He already had severe lacerations and bruises coating his face. He tried to crawl away, but it was futile as Erza grabbed him by the ankle and threw him back into the merciless beating.

Drue merely sat wide-eyed.

* * *

"Well, that surely put a delay in our time." Erza proclaimed as she finished wiping off the spackles of blood on her knuckles. Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel were in such incomprehensible agony and indescribably bruised that…well….can't describe it**( AN: Yeah, I was lazy right here). **They weren't healed because Wendy was ordered not to use her healing capabilities, so this instance of their incompetence would forever scar them.

The now reunited team was now walking through the more dense populated portion of the city. More hotels and towering buildings that were probably 40-50 stories high began appearing. Various restaurants and stores occupied the streets with some employees calling out some of their menu items to draw in potential customers.

"Now…I hope that you all can behave yourselves for more than five minutes while I think about what we're going to do next." Erza said.

"Aye!" Natsu and Gray groaned out while everyone else nodded their heads.

_Okay….let me see. My own obvious next course of action is going to be influencing Drue into admitting he's Wendy's cousin to her. I'm not going to allow him to brush this subject aside and avoid it entirely. But the problem is how am I going to manipulate him into doing so? As of now, he doesn't have the best connection with her, and that's probably another decent reason to why he's refusing to tell her. Hmm, I need to figure out a way to get him closer to her make some kind of connection…but how? _Erza thought.

"Whoa, look at that!" Happy exclaimed as he pointed in a certain direction. Everyone followed the direction and caught site of an enormous water park. The park had a visibly large pool that could be compared with a large sea. Various slides towered over the pool. Also, some make-shift bamboo concession stands were scattered throughout the grounds, making foods and drinks that filled the air with the enticing aroma along with the strong odor of chlorine. Another portion of the park- that was in our mages' field of view- was a designated area covered in sand with beach umbrellas and towels with some people resting-which led them to assume it was an area for people to relax away from the commotion of the rest of the park. That particular area was located near a towering 30 story hotel that had the sign "Chi Mania Hotel".

"Wow, that looks awesome." Natsu said with his grin.

"Yeah. It looks like fun." Lucy agreed as the ecstatic, joyous screams of children and adults sounded from the pool.

"Oh, I wish we could go there, Charle." Wendy pouted, knowing that their so-called 'mission' with Drue wouldn't permit them from going.

A light bulb lighted in Erza's head as a mischievous smile formed on her lips.

"Why don't we then?" Erza asked. Everyone snapped their heads towards her and soon crowded around her.

"Can we, can we!?" Natsu asked like a little child.

"Yeah, can we Erza." Gray asked with excitement. He was literally hopping in his place. Erza chuckled from the childish actions of her nakama.

"Come on, Erza-san, don't keep us waiting for your answer, can we?" Wendy asked.

Erza smiled. "Of course we can." Everyone rejoiced as they sprinted toward the entrance of the hotel. Drue's eyes were twitching furiously.

"Erza-nee, what are you doing? You know that I don't have time fo-" Drue was unable to complete his sentence due to the fact that Erza landed a ferocious blow to his head, knocking him unconscious. Erza started walking to the hotel, a smile adorning her features with a glint in her eyes.

The front of the hotel was awe-inducing. A grand staircase composed of cream-marble inclined the front of the hotel. Two water fountains framed the staircase as each shot three intricate streams of water into the air and filled the air with diminutive roar. The doors and surrounding windows were composed of crystal-like glass that permitted a non-obstructive view of the main lobby interior. The floors were covered in a red carpet. The front desk was made from a varnished mahogany with sun and lunar designs carved on the front, and three front desk employees were working diligently behind it. Finally, a chandelier composed entirely out of lacrima hung from the ceiling, giving the room a slight teal tint.

Erza finally arrived with an unconscious Drue and met with the others- who looked slightly and impatient and curious.

"Uh….why is Drue knocked out? Did he say something to upset you, Erza-san?" Juvia asked with an anime sweat near her left eye.

"No, not really. Okay let's go in and check in a room." Erza said as she began to walk up the stairs. The others decided it was best not to ask anymore questions and followed her up. They entered the lobby and Lucy walked to the front desk with leisure pace.

"Hello, miss. How might I help you?" A young man that was possibly in his mid-twenties asked. The uniform he wore was relatively simple. He, along with the others behind the desk, wore a red jacket with black edges and four gold, symmetrical buttons on the front. His name tag was located on his left pectoral side. He wore white gloves, red pants, black boots with a gold slate protruding from the front. **(AN: I know she wouldn't be able to see the boots from behind the desk, but I felt that I should have a included this.)**

"Ah, yes. Do you have a room that can accommodate eight people?" Lucy asked.

"Let me check." The man said as he accessed a lacrima-based keypad and searched the data base for vacant rooms. Everyone stood patiently as they waited for the man to conclude his search. In the mean time, Natsu decided to wake Drue up and shook him vigorously.

"Drue….DRUE! Wake up!" Natsu yelled at the crème-blonde as he started to knock his head repeatedly against the floor as a result of his shaking.

"Natsu-san, please stop that; you might give him a concussion." Wendy said with a tinge of worry in her voice. Natsu complied and began slapping Drue repeatedly in the face. Some people in the lobby began staring at the hysterical abuse and method Natsu was inflicting.

"Natsu-…..Natsu-san…I'm awake!" Drue exclaimed in between slaps. Natsu got one more slap in, released his grasp on him and stood up.

"Hehe, sorry." Natsu apologized sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

Drue groaned as he rubbed his stinging cheeks. "Where the hell are we?"

"We're in the hotel, Drue. We're looking for a room." Gray informed.

"Whoa, whoa, when did I agree to stay in a hotel when I have something else more important to take care of?"

"Oh, just relax Drue. We're only going to be staying for two nights. Not a big deal." Erza said as she rested her arm on his head.

"Two nights?! I could cover a lot of distance in that amount of time. Come on I have to leave." Drue said as he tried to get up, but Erza's arm stopped him.

"come on Drue-kun, just relax." Juvia said with a genuine smile.

"But…"

"Drue…..don't be so high strung. It's only going to be two nights. Who knows, you might have fun." Wendy said as she knelt down to his eye level and smiled.

Drue stared at her for a second before sighing.

"Either way, I really don't have a choice now, do I?" Drue asked.

"Nope." Wendy replied bluntly with a smile.

"Oh, you're all in luck. I found a room on the top floor that can accommodate all of you." The man said. Everyone beamed at this and immediately became excited.

"How much is it going to cost for two nights?" Lucy asked.

"Uhhhh….about 900,000 jewels." The man replied simply. After that, everyone grew white with shock as a shadow loomed over everyone with sadness.

"W-we c-can't a-afford that." Lucy stuttered out.

"What kind of place is this! Why would you charge that much for a stupid room?!" Natsu screamed at the man as he grabbed him by the collar.

"I'm sorry sir, but with the quality of the hotel and having an enormous water park, the cost of our rooms have to be high. What did you expect?" The man said with fear as he was cowering at Natsu's rage.

"Great. It looks like we won't be able to stay here." Gray said glumly. The rest of the group stayed silent. They hung their heads in disappointment.

Drue looked at the disheartened faces of his group and sighed.

"No…we'll be able to stay. I'll….pay for the room." Drue said, instantly regretting ever uttering those words.

"W-what?" Everone, even the employees asked.

"I said I'll pay for the expenses okay? My wallet is in my back right pocket. There should be enough to pay for the room." Drue said as he leaned on his left side.

"Well…do you want to stay here or do you want to leave? Please say leave." Drue said. Erza knelt down and pulled out a black wallet. She opened it and was rendered speechless.

"What's wrong Titania?" Gajeel asked. Erza couldn't must up the energy to say anything. Instead, she tilted the wallet enough to where everyone else could see the contents. They followed her reaction. The wallet contained at least a couple million jewel inside.

"Y-you carry this much with you?" Erza said with a shaking voice.

"Yeah….why is there an issue with the amount of money I carry?" Drue asked. Lucy regained her composure and took the wallet.

"No, not at all. Here's the money." Lucy said as she handed the corresponding amount to the man.

"Thank you very much. Here's your key and complimentary passes to get into the park." The man said as he handed her a couple of water-proof wrist-bands and four keys.

"Thank you. Come on let's go." The rest of them returned to reality and began the trek of climbing up forty flights of stairs.

* * *

**AN: Sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed. I wanted to get this rising action portion out of the way. The next few chapters will be some-what like "side-cannon" stories if you may. I want to progress the relationship between Drue and Wendy. With this, I want to ask of you, the readers, to PM me some suggestions on what they should do during the next few chapters. I am experiencing sever writer's block and going through a phase where I'm scolding myself for forgetting a lot of vocabulary. Finally, my new profile picture is my drawing on what Drue looks like. It will show up when it does, but you can click the current one and my drawing should show up. Please Review. **


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ow," Drue grunted in some slight aggravation. The hotel they were currently residing in didn't provide an elevator, and they had to walk all the way up to the top floor. Also, since Erza still had not untied him and was dragging him up, his butt collided with each step…hard.

"Erza-nee...ah…could you at least untie me first? This is starting to hurt, and I can walk up myself….ah." Drue asked.

"Mmmmm..no, not yet. Besides, this is mildly amusing…to me at least." Erza smiled. Everyone else was following behind. All of them were on the verge of laughing at Drue, but managed to stifle it.

They finally reached the top floor and Erza opened a door leading into a hallway. Brown, varnished doors lined the walls and the end of the hall, it angled to the left, leading down another hallway. Erza looked down at the keys in her hands to clarify what room they were searching for.

"Okay, the room number is 415. Search for it." Erza informed. Everyone complied and began searching. The current hallway they were in didn't have the correlating room number, but once they started searching the left hallway, they immediately found the room.

"Alright, let's see what we got." Lucy said as she inserted the key into the lock, unlocked it, and opened the door. Instantly, the blinding light of the sun's rays welcomed them with the room. Everyone impulsively covered their eyes with their arms.

"Oh, god…I'M BLIND!" Natsu screamed in agony. Their eyes soon adjusted to the light and were able to fully see the room clearly. To their immediate left, a large kitchen. It had mahogany cabinets and a granite counter top. On the wall flipside of the hallway, a chrome sink and stove top were located there. To the right of the stove, a chrome finished refrigerator with a freezer designated bottom. Wall cabinets hung from above that counter, most likely containing basic appliances. On the opposite side, a simple washing machine was encased in the cabinets. A large slate of granite over hanged over into the rest of the room with three steel framed chairs under it. It served as a table. A small chandelier hung from the ceiling and cream tiles provided flooring for the kitchen only.

The room was large as well. The carpet was also cream colored. Large, sliding glass doors that provided a scenic view of the city were placed opposite of the doorway. A closet with sliding doors that were adorned with ancient Japanese designs and flowers were on the left side. On the right, frosted-like glass walls separated the main room from another smaller, private room with a closet to the right in the room. It had large windows to the left from when you walk in that had thick, silk curtains. Just before the passageway into the room was the entrance to the bathroom. It was relatively simple with white floor tiles, a sink, and a bathtub with a chrome faucet and showerhead. The towel racks were placed on the wall opposite to the door, and a large cabinet was bolted above the sink.

"Uh…all this cost 900,000 jewel?" Juvia said in a disbelieving tone as she removed her boots and walked into the room first.

"What a rip-off." Gray stated as he walked in as well.

"I think you wasted your money, Drue. This place doesn't seem to be any different than what we would pay for a regular hotel." Natsu commented as he walked over to the window. He looked out to take in the sight of the city. It was slighlty obstructed due to fact there was a veranda made of steel bolted to the side.

"It's a nice view and all, but I don't see the reason to give this room such a high price." Natsu said as tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. The rest soon assembled within the main living room, with Drue still tied in ropes.

"Alright, this is how the sleeping arrangements are: boys out here, and the girls will sleep in the room." Erza said, not giving the opportunity for anyone to make any other suggestions. Everyone nodded in compliance.

"Uh…Erza-nee?" Drue began with a big grin. Erza looked down with a questioning looked.

"Do…do you think you can let me out of these ropes? I'm starting to become uncomfortable." Drue asked. Erza still had a disbelieving and skeptical expression. The others also had similar looks.

"I promise I won't try to escape again." Drue proclaimed. Erza didn't move an inch. Wendy was shifting her eyes back and forth between the two and decided to speak up.

"E-Erza-san, I think you should let him go. I mean, I understand your skepticism, but I think we should give him another chance. Besides, he appears to have learned his lesson and promised." Wendy said as she gave Drue an assuring smile. Drue was surprised at her and could only blink.

"Fine." Erza sighed as she bent down and untied the knots. The ropes fell swiftly to the floor, and Drue stood up cautiously. Once he felt he was secure, he stretched his arms, back, and neck while he exhaled sharply.

Without warning, Erza had landed three devastating punches to the top of his head. Drue clutched his head in agony as he fell to the floor. Everyone else was just utterly shocked as they stood wide eyed and mouths a gaped. Natsu and Gray cringed. Wendy instinctively went over to Drue and sat on her knees behind him.

"Ahhhhh." Drue hissed out.

"Drue are you okay?" Wendy asked. Even though it was a redundant and rhetorical question.

"Noooooooo, I'M NOT OKAY!" Drue yelled back. He started rolling around slightly. Some of the pain soon subsided, and he propped himself up on his elbows and looked at Erza with anger.

"What the heck! Why'd you hit me!" Erza smiled.

"Let that be an incentive to not try and escape again. Also, that was some insurance for me to know you won't." Erza replied with an amused glare. Drue retracted a bit and accidently slid his head into Wendy's lap. Wendy had small blush creep on her cheeks but didn't seem to mind, but Charle had an annoyed look on her face as she grumbled.

"Alright, now that we have settled down a little, let's go out the pools." Erza said.

Everyone cheered as they dashed out of the room and back down the flight of stairs. Erza, Drue, Wendy, and Charle were left. Drue stood up and fixed his clothes.

"Ugh…for some reason I have an indescribable feeling that I'm going to dislike every moment of this." Drue muttered under his breath.

Drue then felt a hand tug at his right arm and saw that it was Wendy.

"Come on Drue, let's go." Wendy begged as she started pulling. She managed to get him to budge and then started to run with Drue in her trail.

"Whoa….Wendy!" Drue exclaimed in surprise. Wendy still continued to run and they eventually made it the staircases. Erza smiled as she watched the two kids run off. She locked the door and started walking down as well.

* * *

Wendy and Drue arrived at the section of the hotel designated for occupants to change into bathing suits. The room was completely laminated in sky-blue and white tiles for flooring. To the far left, a small shop selling suits, gear, and floaters could be seen. The walls were coated with a nice soft teal coating with a variety of decorations adorning the walls. Signs hung from the ceiling directing the appropriate changing stations for males and females. Males were to the left, while females were to the right.

"Hmm, not bad." Drue praised as he looked around the room.

"Yeah." Wendy agreed," I'm going to go change, Drue. I'll be right back." Wendy soon dashed into the womens' changing room with Charle.

**Drue's P.O.V**

I watched Wendy and her cat disappear behind the wall before the changing room. I once again surveyed the room, fully grasping my surroundings. The ecstatic yells of young children running about is mostly all I could hear. And the strong aroma of chlorine constantly pierced my nostrils.

"Not even outside yet, and they're already causing a ruckus." I said as I went over to a nearby bench and took a spot to the far right. I rested my head on my knuckles.

"What a pain in the ass. I can't believe I'm stuck in this kind of situation; we could have easily traveled quite a distance instead of staying in this stupid hotel." An inflatable ball knocked into my leg, and a young girl came over.

"I'm sorry, onii-san." She said as she picked it up and ran back over to her friends.

*sigh* oh, well. There's no use in complaining about it now. Besides, later I can try and leave once they've all fallen asleep, so I can at least try and tolerate this for now.

"Oh, Drue, when did you get here?" I heard Nastu-san call out. He along with Gray-san and Gajeel-san just exited the changing room and were walking over to me in a rather slow pace. Natsu-san was only wearing red trunks with two black stripes going up the sides, and his scaly scarf wrapped around his head. Gray-san –who for once was wearing something- wore a navy blue set of trunks with white edges and a light blue stripe going up the left side. Gajeel-san just wore a simple set of black trunks with gray edges. For some reason, Happy was wearing green trunks and a feline shaped swimming cap.

"Just now. Wendy and Charle just stepped in to change too, so they'll be out in a little bit." I replied as looked off to the right.

"Oh, Charle, where is she, where is she?" Happy tried to fly into the women's changing room, but Gray prevented him from flying any closer.

I noticed a few cute girls that appeared to be my age staring at me. They appeared to be giggling and whispering amongst themselves, and I could see faint red tints on their cheeks, but they immediately looked away once they say I was looking back at them. I arched my brow as they started to walk away.

"Okaaaay? What was that about?" I asked to what assumed to be myself, but I was wrong.

"What do you mean?" Erza-nee asked as she finally arrived. I turned my head to face her.

"No….a couple of girls were just standing there staring at me for little bit until I looked back." I replied. Gray-san and Gajeel-san started guffawing and Gejeel-san placed his hand on my left shoulder.

"What are laughing about?" I asked.

"It looks like your catching the attention of the ladies, you sly dog." Gajeel commented as he softly elbowed me in the stomach.

The incredulous look on my face didn't falter.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Looks as though some girls are taking a liking to you." Gray-san said. I honestly had no idea-even no matter how blunt that was- what they were trying to imply, so I shrugged it off.

"I'm going to go change. Don't destroy anything while I'm gone." Erza said. She walked into the changing room.

Lucy-san and Juvia-san then walked out the moment Erza stepped in. Lucy-san was wearing a two-piece, white bikini with pink lotus designs. Juvia-san was also wearing a two-piece that was turquoise and had wavy stitching. They walked over to us and greeted us with warm smiles.

"Drue-kun, why aren't you changing into a swimsuit?" Juvia-san asked me.

"Well, I'm not going to swim so I don't see any reason to put one on." I explained.

"Why aren't you going to swim?" Natsu-san asked.

"I don't really feel like swimming. I'm just going rest for the rest of today."

"But still, we are going into a water park, and you'll look odd and out of place going out there with what you're wearing." Lucy-san said to me.

"Well that's nothing new to me. Besides, I could care less about peoples' opinions on my attire." I said.

I noticed Wendy and Charle walk out of the dressing room. Wendy was wearing a two piece as well, but her bottom half mostly resembled a short skirt and was green, along with her top too. Charle was wearing a red two piece, which for some reason, got Happy excited as he kept fawning over her. The both of them walked over to us and we were now just waiting for Erza-nee.

It was silent among our group for a moment. The sounds of yelling and water being splashed filled the air with noise.

"So…u-um Drue?" I heard Wendy call for my attention. I looked at her. She was twiddling with her index fingers and shifting from side-to-side in her place. She was biting her lower lip and was looking down at her feet.

"What?"

"W-what do y-you think of m-my swimsuit?" She asked as her faced turned beet red for some unknown reason. I was a bit taken back by this question. I looked her over for a bit and nonchalantly replied," Yeah, it looks good."

The redness of her face seemed to only have intensified, while Lucy-san and Juvia-san giggled. Seriously, what is so funny about a girl asking my opinion on her swimsuit?

Erza-nee soon walked out wearing a black two-piece with an artificial rose placed in the crevasse between her breast.

"Wow, Erza, you look great." Lucy-san commented. Erza merely nodded. Erza lightly tapped my shin, and I instinctively looked at her, knowing what she wanted to say.

"Look, Erza-nee, I don't really want to swim, and-"

"Go change, now." She commanded me, not permitting me to finish my sentence.

"I'm not going to change if I don't want to. All I want to do is relax."

"You can relax in swimming trunks, go change now."

"I'm not going to. Besides, I don't have a swimsuit to change into, and you can't do a thing about it." Oh, crap, what did I just do?

Erza didn't reply. Instead, she grabbed my ankle and yanked me out from my seat. She dragged me over to the small shop and picked out a pair of yellow trunks with palm tree designs on it. Then, she tried dragging me into the _womens' _changing room, but I was desperately trying to grab ahold of something and get out of her hold.

"E-Erza-nee, please let go..AHHHH!" I was clutching the wall just before the changing area, but one forceful tug and caused me to lose my grip.

**Normal P.O.V**

The screams of women instantly emanated from the room, some even running out with only a towel on. Natsu and the others could faintly hear Drue grunting, and Erza telling him to "hold still".

"Well, I guess….that's one way to get a teenage boy to change clothes." Gajeel said.

"Do you guys think this is taking it to extremes?" Lucy asked. No one responded as their attention was focused on the entrance. Moments passed and Drue came stumbling out with the trunks on. He had a blush running along his cheeks, and Erza walked out behind him.

"See, now that wasn't so bad now was it?" Erza asked with a smile. Drue didn't respond. Drue was surprisingly well structured for a boy his age. He had prominent pectoral muscles and a developing six-pack adorning his abdomen. His biceps were also well built, but not much since he was still only fourteen. His calves bared similar development and were well toned. There were unique things about him. He had two overlapping, navy-blue crescent moons on his right bicep. A faint scar diagonally went up his right calf, and another faint scar also went up diagonally to the right on his back. He was also wearing his necklace.

Wendy was blushing profusely and couldn't keep her eyes off Drue. She couldn't avert her gaze whatsoever and lowered her head in embarrassment. Wendy wasn't the only girl either. Drue was receiving multiple stares from various girls walking by, all of whom were giggling and blushing.

Erza and Drue walked back to the others.

"So, Drue, what's with the blush?" Lucy mused.

"I-I uh…saw quite a few things in there and was involuntarily stripped naked, so…. uhhh I rather not talk about." Drue said. He clenched his fist and brought it up to cover his mouth.

Everyone started chuckling then it led into hysterical laughter.

"I hate you all so much right now." Drue said in a monotone. The laughter continued as they walked to the entrance of the park.

* * *

**AN: How was the chapter? I'm trying to get Drue and Wendy to have a better connection, so if you guys have any suggestions, PM me them or put them in the reviews. I'm still going through some writers' block. Please review.**


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

**Drue's P.O.V**

From a close up perspective, the water park was actually quite nice and large. One thing that instantly caught my attention was the supposed resting area we saw before. Sand coated the ground and umbrellas protruded from it. A white tiled walkway was set up through the middle of the resting area. There were numerous beach-like chairs that were white set up in rows to the left and right of the path- presumably an organized 7x8 assortment. At the end of the walkway, a small white, wooden bridge arched over a lazy river-thus connecting and providing accessibility to the rest of the park. There were quite a number of people riding on clear floating tubes along the lazy river. Some were just resting, letting the low current drift them around the park. Others were splashing about with their friends- with the females screaming in delight as the water made contact with their skin.

"Hmm, might want to ride this instead of sitting the chairs." I said to myself.

"But Drue, that's no fun. You should try some of the rides before going on the river." I heard Wendy suggest as she gestured to the other rides. In my peripheral view, I could see a large hurricane harbor, a series of connected slides that were all different colors, a towering tower with multiple water slides that swirled in intricate directions that made it difficult to tell where which one began and ended.

I rest my chin on my fist while I pondered over which one would be more amusing.

"I don't know." I said.

"Well, while you're standing around, we're going to go have some fun. Let's go." Natsu roared. He pumped his fist in the air while he and the rest of the group ran off in no where particular. Wendy, Erza-nee, Charle, and I were the only ones left standing on the bridge.

"Hey, I'm going to just ride on the river for a while. You two have fun." Erza waved her hand back at us as she walked to the nearest stone staircase that allowed her to walk into the river. She grabbed a floating tube, rested herself on it, and soon was carried away with the current.

I looked back over to Wendy.

"So, what do you want to do first?" She asked. I sighed. I really didn't want to do anything with her, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings by just walking away and ignoring her. I looked over to see a large pool that had a large opening towards the deep end. The pool seemed to be replicating a wave as people were being pushed up higher into the air with the current.

"Want to go there?" I suggested.

"Sure." She beamed. Wendy started running over to the pool in a breath taking fast pace. I was only walking at leisurely pace with my hands in my pockets. Charle was also flying at a similar pace with me. I was curious to why she didn't go with Wendy, and she was giving me a rather scrutinizing look.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Drue, what was he-cat about to say earlier when you were tied up? He seemed like he was going to explain something." She said.

"It was nothing important, really. There's no need to be concerned about it." She was still staring at me, obviously not believing a word I said.

"Oi, if it has anything to do with Wendy, you have to tell me." She said in a serious tone," Anything concerning her involves me."

Sheesh, nosy little pest. I'm surprised Wendy can tolerate her.

"Whatever, it's none of your business anyway." I said. A visible bulge was on her forehead. I couldn't help but flash her a grin and chuckle. We caught up with Wendy. She had yet to even enter the pool and was waiting patiently for us.

"Wendy, why didn't you already go in?"

"I wanted to go in with you guys." She said," I found a ball we could play with." Wendy held up a red inflatable ball that was about the size of her head.

"Let's head in." Wendy said, but as she took her first step, she tripped and fell face first in the water. "KYAAAAA!"

I sweat dropped at this, and I'm pretty sure Charle did too. I'm starting to question if she's really my cousin or not. Wendy slowly sat up and looked at me with an embarrassed expression.

"Hehehehe." I couldn't help but chuckle at her after seeing her face. Wendy instantly flushed and splashed some water in my face.

"It wasn't funny." Wendy pouted. I wiped the water off my face and leaned down next to her.

"Come on Wendy, don't be like that." Wendy slowly looked toward me an smiled. She splashed more water at me and ran off into the pool laughing.

"Ah come on!" I yelled as I walked into the pool. The water slowly rose up to my waist as I walked halfway into the pool. The water felt as cold as ice initially, but my body soon adjusted to the temperature and felt warm. Wendy tossed up the ball and served it over to me. I bunted it back to her. We continued this for a couple of minutes, and it eventually evolved into a competition/game. The game basically stated that if we didn't bunt the volley ball when either of us served to the other and it hit the water, the server scored a point. I was surprised at how well Wendy was at this kind of game, and we were tied 15 to 15.

"Okay, next person to score wins." Wendy said as she served the ball. It went to my far left, but I managed to hit it back. Wendy was about to return it as well, but I decided to be a little…uh…..tactical if I may say so.

With my water powers, a manipulated a small, but powerful, current under the water. I flicked my hand swiftly and knocked Wendy off her feet.

"KYAAAA!" Wendy screamed as she fell into the water. The ball landed with a small, subtle splash.

"I win!" I proclaimed with a smug look. Wendy resurfaced and coughed for a moment.

"Drue, YOU CHEATED!" She screamed at me as she walked over to me.

"No, I didn't," I denied," I simply used my powers to my advantage and knocked you off your feet, so I could win."

"That's cheating!" Both Charle and Wendy yelled. Wendy smiled mischievously and splashed me again. This time I retaliated and splashed her back. An upcoming roar indicating another wave incoming sounded off. I lunged myself at Wendy and picked her up.

"D-Drue, w-what are you doing?" She started to squirm like a child in my hold. The wave was incoming and just as the crest of the wave came, I threw her at it. The force of the wave started to carry her. I extended my arms out to make an opening in the water so it can pass over harmlessly.

"AHHHHHH!" Wendy screamed in delight as she was carried to the shallow end. Wendy started giggling like a school girl.

"That was fun Drue. What do you want to do next?" She asked.

Huh? I thought she would be pissed. Ah, well, girls are weird after all. I looked around and saw the tall tower with the many intricate slides.

"Let's go on that." I gestured my head toward the slides. Suddenly, I noticed the color in her face fade, and she frowned.

"U-uhhh….I-I don't know." Wendy gulped.

"What are you scared of a little slide?" I said mockingly. She straightened her posture,

"N-no, let's go." She exclaimed as she walked off. I shook my head and looked to Charle.

"Is she the stubborn type?" I asked.

"At times, she can be and when she is, there is no way to break it. Except when you induce something like fear or distraction." She explained.

"I see. Well, this should be interesting." I said. There apparently was a small line a third of the way up by the time we caught up with Wendy, and she didn't look so well. She was almost pale and was hyperventilating slightly. I placed my hand on her shoulder, and she almost fell over-luckily I caught her.

"Wendy, what's wrong? You look terrible." I said.

"Hehe, I'm fine D-Drue." She tried to lie. I looked over the guard rail to view the rest of the park. I could see of in the distance that Natsu-san and Gray-san were having their usual brawl in the middle of the eating area. I couldn't see the rest of the group, but I could see Erza-nee pass by under the staircase on the lazy-river. She waved at me, and I waved back

"Hm, you get a nice view of the park from this elevation. We're pretty high up too, huh Wendy?" I asked.

"Y-yeah." Wendy was clinging onto the support beam for what appears to be dear life. That's when a light bulb lit in my head.

"Your afraid of heights, aren't you Wendy?" I asked. The line moved quite a bit, we were at the top platform. A total of five entrances were at the top of the slides, and they were exposed, or open topped. I looked over to see where they led to. They all led to a semi-deep pool where a line of buoys prohibited the other people in the pool for entering that area. There was also one life-guard there too.

"N-no, I'm not a-a-afraid of heights." I had an incredulous look on my face. Her turn presented itself, but she slowly walked over to the slide. She stood frozen stiff in front of the slide for what seemed like an eternity.

"Miss, are you alright?" A nearby life-guard asked. Wendy didn't respond, and I sighed. I walked over to her and brought her over to the side, so the other people in line wouldn't have to wait.

"Wendy, what's wrong?" I asked. She had a down casted look on her face and slumped over slightly.

"I'm s-scared." She admitted.

"I thought you said you weren't scared."

"I only said that to look brave in front of you. To be honest, I'm terrified." She admitted reluctantly. I softened my features and patted her on the head.

"Don't worry about." I gave her a reassuring grin.

"Y-you mean I don't have to go? I don't want to ruin your fun." She said. I continued to smile at her. Then- much to her surprise- I picked her up and held her above my head with my hands on her sides.

"D-Drue w-what are you doing!?" She screamed. I walked over to the slide, and she started to frantically struggle to escape my grip.

"You're not ruining anything, Wendy. I'm just going to toss you down the slide without taking into consideration of your fear." I said with a big grin on my face.

"WHAT?!"

"Don't worry. Besides, this might help you overcome it."

"NO IT WON'T!" She screamed right before I threw her head first into the slide.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Wendy screamed as she slid around a curve and out of my sight. The life guard, Charle, and a few of the people in line all stared at me with wide eyes. I chuckled as I grabbed Charle and sat down onto the same slide Wendy went down-my back facing it.

"Drue…..was that really necessary?" Charle asked. I shrugged my shoulders in response and slowly fell backward. I traveled down the slide at high velocity, gravity working against me at every curve because it felt like I was being crushed slightly. Charle was on my stomach and was screaming the whole time. We reached the end of the slide and fell into the pool with a big splash. I resurfaced and the water level was up to my chest. I looked to my left to see Wendy giving me one of the cutest glares I have ever seen.

"That was not funny Drue." She said as she splashed more water at me.

"Actually, yeah it was hilarious." I laughed. She puffed out her cheeks and started stomping away. I ran up to catch her.

"Come on Wendy, don't be like that. I'm sorry." I patted her head.

"Humph…..I don't know if I should forgive you." Wendy said. She looked away from my gaze. I looked over and saw we were near the food court area.

"Mmmm, how about I buy you something to eat? You must be hungry since we haven't eaten in hours." I suggested.

"I'm not hungry." She said, but a low growl from her stomach proved otherwise.

"Alright, while I go and get something, you two sit over there." I pointed toward a table on the small little concrete island. Wendy didn't respond. I went up to her and put my hands on her shoulders.

"Come on, don't be like this. You have to admit it was kind of fun, wasn't it?" Her features softened. She poked out her lips and squinted her eyes.

"mmyyhfh" She mumbled something, but I couldn't hear it.

"What was that?" I mused as I cuffed my hand around my ear and leaned closer to her.

"I said it was fun…but that doesn't mean I liked it!" She said as her face flushed.

"Hehehe, yeah sure, whatever you say. I'll go get the food." I started walking to the nearest concession stand.

**Wendy's P.O.V**

Drue walked off laughing like maniac. I hated that I admitted the fact I liked it, even though I was scared to death. I shook my head and laughed. Charle and I walked to the table and sat down.

"Wendy, are you all right?" I heard Charle ask.

"Yeah." I replied. I have to admit, I'm surprised at how much Drue was enjoying himself out here. This wasn't like the guy I saw a couple of hours ago.

"Wendy, what's with that look on your face?" Charle asked.

"What look?"

"You had quite a distant look on your face. What, were you thinking about?" She asked with an arched brow.

"N-no, I wasn't honest." I flushed as I waved my hands in front of me frantically.

"Don't lie to me, you were thinking about Drue, weren't you?"

"I WASN'T!" I screamed in denial.

"Oi, Oi, look what we've got here guys." I heard a male's voice said. I turned my head to the right and saw three boys around my age all around my table. They had wicked smiles and eyes focused all on me.

"C-can I help you?" I stuttered out.

"Oh, yeah….she's really cute." I heard one of the other boys said. He was a dirty-blonde with blue eyes. I retracted a bit. Another boy- brown hair and onyx eyes- nodded. The third boy-whom had white hair and green eyes- approached me and sat next to me.

"Say, what's a cute girl like yourself doing all by yourself, hmm?" He asked. I scooted away from him, but he scooted closer in response.

"I'm w-waiting f-for my friend." I finally said. He frowned slightly.

"Well, I guess since we're waiting, do you want me to buy you something? I can purchase anything you want. I'm the son of an ambassador and rich nobleman from the country north of Fiore, Veronica." He gloated. God, I severely dislike people like him.

"I'm fine, thank you very much. Can you please leave me alone." I asked in slight agitation. His frown only intensified while his friends chuckled.

"Come on now, don't you be like that, now-"

"She said to leave her alone, punk!" Charle yelled at the boy. The white-haired boy sneered at her.

"Or what, little kitten." He mused. Charle started growling and sheathing her claws.

"Charle, calm down let's go." I said instantly. I stood up, picked her up, and started to walk away. Then, I felt a hand grab my right arm….hard. I yelped in some pain.

"HEY….don't leave while I'm still talking to you, you insolent brat." The white head said to me. His grip on me was starting to hurt. Even though being a wizard should make me tough, my own constitution wouldn't agree with that.

"Let go!" Charle yelled as she started punching his leg, but it was ineffective. The boy smiled wickedly. He kicked her away.

"Charle!" I yelled. Everyone around us started noticing the commotion and were staring at us. His friends walked up to us.

"Come now, you didn't have to do that to the cat." The blonde boy commented.

"Shut up." The boy holding me said, "Now, show some respect and stay." His grip intensified.

"OW!" I said.

"I don't even think you know what 'respect' is punk." A familiar voice said. I looked over to see Drue placing a tray full of food on the nearest table. I smiled out of joy.

"Let her go." Drue said. He walked slowly toward us. The boy released his grasp on my arm, and I seized the moment and ran, but I tripped and fell again. I got up instantly and ran over to Drue.

"You alright?" He asked. I nodded, and he continued his pace toward the boys.

"Looks like we got a cocky one guys." He walked too and was in a stand off with Drue. Their faces most likely about a couple inches away from each other.

"You want to do something, Blondie?"

"You hurt my friend; I'm not going to idle by and let that go."

The boy smirked," Think your tough kid?"

"Tougher than your scrawny ass. Especially tougher than your little entourage." Drue retorted. The boy growled.

"Song, calm down man. There's no need for you to taint your hands; we'll take care of him, right Sugisaki?" The brown haired boy said. The blonde hair boy didn't respond. He was focusing his attention on Drue.

"Sugisaki what's wrong?" Song asked.

"That insignia on his right arm-the two overlapping crescent moons. It looks….familiar." Sugisaki mentioned. The other two looked at his mark.

"Let me ask you three….are you mages?" Drue asked.

"Tch….no, but it doesn't matter. We'll wipe that look off your face." The boy swung his fist at Drue, but he dodged it and landed a blow to his gut. The kid clutched his stomach and was about to fall to the ground, but Drue caught him by the neck.

"You're not getting out of it that easily. Since your not wizards, this will be much more amusing." Drue said as he brought Song to his feet. Song looked up in shock before Drue landed three hard punches to his face.

"AHHHHH!" Song screamed like a girl on the floor.

"Song, You little-" The brown haired boy attempted to punch Drue, but he deflected it with his hand. Drue punched the boy in the throat, interlocked his arms around his neck, and flipped him onto the ground. The blonde ran towards Drue. He attempted a round-house kick, but Drue dodged it and flipped the blonde onto a table. Drue punched the kid multiple times to where the kid was knocked out cold and blood was oozing from his nose.

"Yahhhh!" Song tried fruitlessly to punch Drue, but Drue grabbed his right arm, kicked him in the shin- causing him to fall to his knees- and landed one final left hook, resulting in the kid being knocked out cold as well.

My hand was clasped over my mouth in surprise and shock. He took those three out with little to no effort at all.

"That was….disappointing." Drue insulted. He walked over to me and grabbed the lunch tray.

"Go get Charle." He commanded. I wasted no time in getting her –she was unconscious- and soon, we were off walking to another location. Some of the people we passed by retracted a bit and started murmuring amongst themselves. But there were some people that praised Drue on protecting me and gave him a pat on the back.

"Wendy, your cut." I looked down to my left ankle and saw there was a bleeding laceration on the left side of my leg( the outer part). I didn't even notice it, nor did I feel it the moment it happened.

"Oh, it's fine." I smiled at him. He smiled slightly, but was still concerned about the cut. We continued to walk off looking for a vacant table. While Drue was looking in various directions, I was pondering over my thoughts. I can't say I wasn't surprised. I had absolutely no idea Drue was able to fight with such ferocity and formality. From his moves, he appeared to have been trained. I looked down at the mark on his right bicep. The blonde boy said it was a familiar insignia, but I have never seen it before. Just what exactly….is it meant to represent?

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**AN: sorry for the long chapter. What did you guys think? I'm still accepting more suggestions on what the both of them should do to establish a better relationship. Please review. :)**


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

** AN: Thanks for all the reviews for this story, but I feel this story isn't that good. I've incorporated many suggestions other Fan-Fic writers have given me, but I still have a gnawing feeling that something's missing. Ah, well I don't have much to say and this Author's Note was pointless anyways…..enjoy..**

* * *

Drue and Wendy had finally located a table that was near the lazy river. It was a large, raised platform that was framed with white, metal guard rails. The perimeter of the flooring was teal while the rest of the inside was white. The hotel building provided and overhang over the

"Hey, Charle, wake up." Wendy pleaded as she was healing Charle with her magic. Charle's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she raised her right arm to block the glare from the sun. This didn't last long, though, as her eyes shot open and she jumped on Wendy.

"Wendy, what happened? Are you okay? Where are those rapscallions? I want to teach them a lesson for even daring to touch you!?" Charle yelled as she began scanning the area with an enormous bulge on her head.

"Oi, Charle, it's okay now. Drue took care of those three while you were knocked out." Wendy assured her feline companion. Charle stopped her actions and stared at Wendy with an astonished look.

"He did?"

Wendy smiled.

"Yes, He took those three out in no time flat." Charle looked over to Drue. He had his arms crossed with a relaxed expression on his face.

"Hmph." Charle grunted as she turned her head and crossed her arms.

"What?" Drue asked.

"Charle?" Wendy said in a monotone.

"T-thank you for protecting Wendy when I couldn't." Charle said with a tone that made it sound as if every word was a knife stabbing her in the back.

"No problem," He responded," Now come on guys, eat up. I wasn't sure what you guys wanted, so I got salads, some sandwiches, and some tea. Pick whatever you like; I really don't care."

"Arigato, Drue….ow." Wendy hissed and winced in pain as she grabbed her bleeding left ankle.

"Wendy! What happened?" Charle asked in concern.

"Hehe, I must have scraped it against something. It's not that bad." Wendy groaned.

"'Not that bad'? You're bleeding profusely, and the color in your face is almost gone. We need to get you to a medical specialist." Charle demanded as she started pulling on Wendy's free arm, but she didn't budge.

"Charle, let go! I'll be fine." Wendy said in an unconvincing stern tone. Charle ignored her and was straining to get her to move.

"Wendy…." Drue said.

"Yeah?"

"Can you heal yourself with your magic?"

"No, sadly I can't. I don't know if I could because Gradeeney disappeared before she could even teach me anything more than a few simple healing spells."

Drue leaned back into his chair and exhaled, "Alright then, give me your foot." Drue said. Charle stopped her fruitless struggle and scrunched her brow.

"What are you going to do?" Charle asked. Drue ignored her question and reached for Wendy's foot and propped it on his right knee. He enveloped his hand with water and slowly placed it on her cut.

"Ow." Wendy winced at the moment of contact and cringed the left side of her face.

"Sorry." Drue apologized.

"It's okay, but what exactly are you doing Drue?" Wendy asked.

"Hehe, just watch." Drue chuckled. He wrapped his fingers around the circumference of Wendy's ankle, which caused her to slightly blush under the touch. Charle caught this reaction and poked her lips out in annoyance and grunted.

The water traveled from Drue's hand and spreaded out slightly. Then, the water started illuminating a bright blue light. Wendy and Charle were speechless as the light intensified and their eyes widened. Eventually, the water returned to normal and dripped to the ground. Drue removed his hand revealing perfect, unscathed skin. The cut has completely healed and the blood was gone. The color in Wendy's face returned, and she snapped up slightly with rejuvenation.

"Y-you can use healing magic?" Wendy and Charle asked.

"Yes, I can. Now can let's get back to eating." Drue nonchalantly as he grabbed a sandwich and began consuming it in rather large bites. He finished the sandwich quickly and reached over for another. But before he could grasp it, he saw in the corner of his eye that they were staring at him with great intent. He sighed and leaned back into his seat.

"Why are you guys staring at me?" He asked rhetorically.

"Where did you learn Healing Magic?" Charle asked. She activated her wings and flew to the tabletop to rest. She deactivated her wings as she sat down and looked a Drue with curiosity.

"Hmm, my mother, Aquaria, taught me. She was an excellent healer that demonstrated amazing prowess within that skill." Drue explained. He reached over for another sandwich and began consuming it.

"Aquaria-san was a healer too. Just like my mother. That's great." Wendy said with a smile as she started to eat her salad. The conversation had diminished and the atmosphere between the three was quite silent. They continued to eat their lunch, and occasionally, they would see Lucy, Juvia, or Erza pass by on the river and wave at them. Wendy had finished eating her lunch and was waiting for the other two to finish. Her eyes soon began to drift over Drue, and the insignia on his right bicep caught her attention.

"Drue?"

"Yeah?"

"What does that insignia on your right bicep mean? That blonde boy said that he recognized it from somewhere, and I haven't seen that before."

Drue's face dropped slightly and he exhaled a very sharp breath of air. He clasped his mouth with his left hand and propped his left arm on the table. Wendy felt a twinge of guilt and regret for asking now. She didn't know Drue's demeanor would change so quickly and felt she intruded on a personal subject. Drue sat there quietly for over five minutes, before Wendy decided to speak.

"Drue, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry on anything personal."

"No, it's alright, Wendy. I was just…reminiscing a few instances. Okay, this emblem is….rare if I may say so. This can only be bestowed upon someone after meeting very…..difficult requirements. Only six people in the entire country have this emblem on them, and it is with the highest honor to achieve this." Drue said. Drue was reluctant to truly explain where exactly he got this mark and knew what he said wasn't much of an explanation.

"Why is it two crescent moons, and who are the other five people who have it?" Charle asked. She took a sip of her tea and gently placed it on the table.

"I rather not get too much into details, but the moons represent hope and courage. The moon is a symbol of hope in the night. People gaze upon its wonders and bask in its light as it is the salvation from darkness that prompts them to visualize a brighter future, and fills an individual with the determination to seize that future. As for the other people…." Drue lowered his head, but he did so that it went unnoticed by the other two.

"I haven't had contact with them for two years. Incidentally, we assembled a 'group' since we were all bestowed the same mark, but we…uh.. disbanded. I don't know where their current locations are, but I know their probably happy where they settled." Drue concluded his explanation.

"Um…who were the other people, personality wise?" Wendy asked. Drue was beginning to become aggravated and annoyed with the questions, but decided to not snap at them at the risk of Erza finding out.

"Drue…Wendy….Charle!" They heard a familiar voice calling for them. All three turned to see Happy flying over to them.

"Happy? Why are you here? Where's Natsu-san?" Drue asked, relieved he interrupted the discussion.

"Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel got into a disastrous fight in the main food area and destroyed half of the stands. Their in the managers office right now being reprimanded by Erza and the manager." Happy sighed as he landed next to Charle, much to her dismay.

"Oh, my god. I have a feeling the bill is going to be horrendous, and master is not going to be pleased once he gets it." Drue pinched his temples in exasperation.

"So, what are you guys up to?" He asked.

"Oh, Drue was explaining to us about the mark on his arm. It was really interesting." Wendy said with some enthusiasm.

"Hmm, Drue did you tell her about…..you know?" Happy said, implying the whole 'cousin' ordeal. Drue furrowed his brow at the blue feline, and said feline coward behind Charle in fear. Wendy and Charle exchanged looks between each other.

"Tell me what, exactly? You've been saying that all day today Happy, and Erza-san has too, so what is it?" Wendy asked. Happy was still preoccupied with using Charle for cover, but Charle elbowed him in the stomach, and he looked at Wendy.

"Uhhhhh…."

"It's nothing concern yourself with, Wendy. Let's go do something else." Drue suggested as he grabbed Happy and started walking off. Wendy and Charle shared disbelieving looks, but sighed and went to catch up with the boys.

* * *

The day continued on with the four of them playing in the various pools and water rides. There were also some times that Drue was courted by a few girls that only gawked and fondled over him, but given the ignorant and dense dragon he is, he merely brushed it aside. The sun had began to set and a majority of the residents began returning to their rooms for the evening events. Our four protagonists were now riding along the smooth current of the lazy river on the floating tubes. Drue and Happy were sharing one while Wendy and Charle shared another one.

"The sunset looks great from this angle, doesn't minna?" Wendy asked.

"Aye!" Happy agreed. Drue remained silent in the conversation at only stared at the receding sun. Since Happy had mentioned his taboo subject, Drue didn't utter a word once.

"Drue….you've been brushing this subject aside all day: what was Happy and Erza-san discussing about that involved me?" Wendy asked.

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, alright? In all honesty, it really isn't a big deal, so don't bring it up again," Drue said in an abrasive tone. Wendy sighed at his stubbornness while Charle crossed her arms across her chest. She had just about enough of this. When the tubes were close enough, she stomped across to where she stood on Drue's chest. She positioned her face close enough to his to where they could hear each other's breathing.

"'Nothing' my butt. What is it?" She asked in a stern tone. Drue sneered at her, but Charle didn't retract at all.

"Either you tell me what's going on, or I ask he-cat. And if he doesn't comply, I'll ask Erza. Tell me now!" Charle demanded with a scowl. Drue clenched his fist, teeth, and bared his elongated canines.

"Drue…calm down." Happy said, noticing and attempting to prevent an impending strike on Charle. Drue noticed at the corner of his eye that a large artificial cave was located prominently at the upcoming underpass, causing the river to diverge into two different directions. Drue kicked Wendy's floaty to the other side of the river.

"Whoa, Drue, what are you doing?" Wendy screamed just before the cave walls blocked their view of each other. Drue returned his attention to the white cat on his chest, look of intent not subsiding whatsoever.

"Fine, persistent little- ugh." Drue groaned. Charle went over to sit next to Happy, whom had a worried expression on his face.

"Well…?" Charle asked in a forceful tone. Drue sighed as he placed his arms behind his head.

"Wendy's my…..cousin, Charle." He admitted. Charle gasped slightly, but narrowed her eyes in disbelief.

"Okay, now to explain to me how you are related to my Wendy in any way and that is remotely possible."

"Look, I'm not related to her biologically. Do you remember earlier when I healed her?" Charle nodded her head," Well, to my cognitive knowledge, there were only two dragons that were capable of utilizing healing magic. And incidentally, they were siblings." Drue said.

"So, yours and Wendy's…" Happy started announcing.

"Yes. Her mother, Grandeeney, and my mother, Aquaria, are sisters, and since the both of us are their foster children, we're technically foster cousins." Drue concluded. Charle sat there shocked beyond comprehension and speechless. She regained her thought process immediately, though.

"Wait, if you knew all this time, then why don't you tell her?" Charle asked. Drue avoided her gaze and looked down.

"There are many reasons why I don't want to tell her, but there are two stand out the most for me."

"What are they?" Happy asked.

"One is that over the course of my life, I've experienced many of the people I was close with die before my eyes- majority of which were caused by me. My father, my friends, my village, my…. Anyway, to get straight to the point, each time, I was overwhelmed with despair, sorrow, hate, and excruciating pain. After experiencing those time and time again, I promised myself that I wouldn't try to develop a connection with anyone."

"And since Wendy's your cousin, you didn't want to take a risk of that happening again, and possibly leave yourself susceptible to the feeling of losing a relative?" Happy interjected.

"Yeah." Drue agreed.

"And what's the second reason?" Charle asked.

Drue sighed.

"Charle, Happy, what do you notice about me that's missing? What am I particularly lacking in terms of what I'm supposed to have?" Drue asked. Charle and Happy pondered over this while they began to impulsively inspect Drue over. This continued for a minute until it dawned on them.

"Where's your guild insignia?" They both said simultaneously. Drue remained silent and clicked his tongue once. Charle crawled a little closer to him.

"Drue?" Charle said in a unusually soft tone.

"After I've finished what I originally planned to do, I'm leaving the guild." Drue said. Happy and Charle gasped.

"What? Why?" Both of them asked.

"The only reason I stayed at that guild in particular is because the guild's top medical advisor/specialist, Poryusica, foretold that the two that I fought early yesterday would eventually come there. So, I decided to wait it out and made a deal with the master to masquerade as a member until they reared their presence."

"But that still doesn't explain why." Happy said. Drue nodded his head.

"Wendy and I-along with Natsu-san and Gajeel-san- were abandoned by our parents seven years ago. Given we were all in similar circumstances, I know that we all felt unfathomable sadness and abandonment. I know if I told Wendy we were cousins and I left, she would experience those same feelings again, and I don't want to that to her."

"But what about you? It must be heart-wrenching not telling her whom you really are to her." Happy said.

"It is, but knowing what I've experienced through my childhood, I think I'm doing the right thing. Besides, it's enough of a consolation knowing that she won't be hurt by all this as much as she would be if I told her." Drue said, but at that moment, Charle had stood up and slapped him across the face with her claws unsheathed. Three parallel cuts went diagonally up his chin.

"You baka! It's worse that you don't tell her!" Charle screamed at the boy, "You have the audacity to sit there saying it won't her if you never even tell her the only family she has left in this world remains unknown to her!" Drue was surprised at the sudden outburst. Happy got up and placed his paw on her shoulder.

"Charle, calm dow-" Charle didn't let him finish as she pushed him away…hard.

"I don't care about whatever you 'went through' as a child, you impudent little prick! That is no excuse to neglect and uninform Wendy!"

"What right do you have-" Drue started.

"I have the right ensure Wendy is safe, but also happy! You claim you'll spare her the torment of re-experiencing the feelings of abandonment, but that won't compensate for the reality of the loneliness she feels without her mother- whom was her only family," Charle interrupted, "What you're actually doing is worse and horribly insensitive; you should be ashamed of yourself."

"I'm doing this because I know she'll be fine because she has you guys and the rest of the guild!" Drue yelled at her, "I know that you guys are capable of pulling her away from the loneliness and make her happy, which is something I'll never be able to do for her in a million life times. She'll have friends that will always be by her side to support her through any difficulties. That's something that she'll have that I can never measure up too. That's why I'm willing to do this, alright?" Drue finished with a twinge of sadness in his voice.

Happy turned his head to see the exit to the cave, and the slightly faster current indicating the converging rivers.

"Drue, we're about to see Wendy." Happy stated.

"Charle, I'm begging you. Don't tell Wendy about any of this, please. Please don't tell her." Drue pleaded.

"You suck at making convincing request." Charle said. Drue's face softened.

"Drue, how are you going to explain the scratched on your chin?" Happy asked. Drue submerged his index and middle finger in the water. A narrow stream steadily went up his arm and to the lacerated area. The water illuminated the same bright light, and the cuts were completely healed.

"I can't heal myself with my own water, but I am able to heal any sustained injuries by utilizing the water of an outside source." Drue explained before they could ask.

"So, you're healing magic is slightly more effective than Wendy's?" Happy asked. Drue nodded his head in response. The three of them exited the cave and were met with a pouting Wendy.

"That was completely rude, Drue. I was bored." Wendy whined. Drue forced a smile and apologized.

"Oi, Drue-kun, Wendy!" They heard a familiar voice call to them. They looked up to see Juvia calling out to them from one of the raised platforms, "We're heading in, come on!"

"Hai!" Both the adolescents replied. They exited the river and started heading in to the changing room. They met up with the rest of the group inside. Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel had bruises and bandages all over them( probably from Erza's punishment) while Lucy and Erza were standing there patiently.

"I hope you two had some fun." Erza said.

"Yeah, we had a lot of fun, right?" Wendy proclaimed in an enthusiastic tone. Drue and Happy nodded while Charle still glared at Drue.

"Erza-nee, can I get my clothes back? I don't want to go in there again like a couple of hours ago." Drue narrowed his eyes. Erza chuckled as she went in the girls' changing room and brought out his clothes. Drue bowed and all our protagonists went in to change into their normal attire.

"Ahhh, I'm starving!" Natsu said as his stomach growled.

"Yeah. Let's hit one of the buffets." Gray suggested.

"NO!" Erza yelled, "As an added punishment, we're going back to the room and eating a regular meal instead."

The others didn't seem to mind this, but the three of them didn't like the idea one bit.

"But Erza, we'll die from starvation! We have to eat out!" Natsu yelled dramatically as he clutched his receding stomach. Erza just punched him upside the head.

"Anything else to say?" She tempted, but no one dared to say a thing.

"Don't worry, Natsu-san. I'm pretty sure I saw a fish market on our way here. I can grab some and see if we can cook something up." Drue suggested. Happy was the most elated about the suggestion and everyone else seemed to agree.

"Alright, but I'm going with you Drue." Erza said, "Here Lucy. Wait up there until we've returned." She handed Lucy the room key. She nodded and they started heading up. Erza turned her head to the boy.

"So, what you think about today?" Erza asked. They started exiting the hotel and entered the packed streets.

"It was okay." Drue replied. They continued their walk without saying another word.

* * *

The rest of the group entered their room. The guys had all dropped to the floor while the girls went into the other room.

"I'm going to go ahead and take a bath." Lucy said. She grabbed her night clothes and headed in. They could hear the squeak of the knob and the sound of rushing water. Juvia was already occupied by preparing the kitchen for when Drue and Erza return.

"today was fun, wasn't it Charle?" Wendy asked as she layed down gracefully on the floor. Charle didn't respond, and Wendy was beginning to be concern.

"Charle, what's the matter? Why do you seem upset?"

"It's because I am." Charle said.

"Why? Did Happy attempt to do something again while we were separated?" Charle shook her head. She walked to the sliding door and closed it. She turned around to face Wendy.

"Wendy…there's something I need to tell you. Something you_ need _to know."

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**AN: Please Rate and Review.**


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:**

Drue and Erza had finished gathering the ingredients for their dinner. Luckily for them, instead of having to travel a long distance to the fish market, another mish store was located about a five minute walking distance from the hotel. They bought ten fresh trout and eel, rice, tofu, egg, green onions, process fish cakes and crab meat, and some soy sauce.

"Drue, now that we have all the provisions we need, how do you propose we prepare them. I'll be honest, none of us can really cook very well." Erza said, "Natsu and Gray are just atrocious, Juvia and Lucy can cook, but their meals are unappealing, unappetizing, and some-what inedible. Gajeel would probably add medal. I'm not so sure about Wendy, and-"

"Erza-nee, there's no need to worry yourself in that matter. I'll cook the food." Drue assured her with a smile. Erza had an incredulous look and arched her right brow.

"You're going to cook? Are you planning to contaminate the food with some sort of laxative or toxin that's going to knock us all unconscious?" Erza asked. Drue sweat dropped at the rash, but highly possible, accusation.

"No, I'm going to just cook a regular meal. Besides, when I was younger and had to fend for myself, I learned to cook exquisite meals with great flavor. I'll admit there was some trial and errors, but I eventually mastered it-if I may so myself." Drue said smugly. Erza chuckled and lightly punched his shoulder, which almost caused him to drop the fish.

They just now entered the hotel lobby and were ready to venture up the incomprehensible flight of stairs.

"So, how was your day with Wendy?" Erza asked. Drue sighed.

"It was okay. I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed myself today-for the first time in a long time." Drue said.

"Did you tell her?"

"No. I told someone, but not her."

"You tell everyone, but the one person you're supposed to tell? My go- who did you tell?"

"Charle. Her annoying persistence aggravated me enough to tell her to make her stop."

"And you don't think she might tell Wendy?" Drue stopped and had a blank expression.

"I expected she might; I begged her not too, but I doubt she's going to comply, so let's hurry." Drue said. They began rushing up the stairs.

* * *

"There's something important I need to tell you, Wendy. Something _very_ important." Charle said.

"What do you need to tell me?" Wendy asked as she sat down. Charle walked over to her friend and held her hand.

"Wendy, what do you think of Drue?" She asked. Wendy was slightly taken by surprised at the sudden question.

"Why? What does he have to do with anything?" Wendy asked.

"Wendy….just answer the question." Charle demanded in a stern tone. Wendy blinked a few times before leaning back on her arms.

"Well, I think he's a rather…. complex person? Yeah. I mean, he has a unique personality. Initially, I thought he was a reclusive individual with a rash and harsh attitude. But now that I had the experience of spending the day with him, I now understand now he's a misunderstood person, but he's also kind, funny, and from what happened with those other guys, very protective. Why do you ask?" Wendy asked.

"Well, remember how through-out the day, He-cat and Erza have always mentioned something involving you?"

Wendy nodded.

"Well, when Drue separated us earlier and we traveled down different canals, I sort-of made him tell me what it was about."

"Okay, where are you exactly going with this?" Charle sighed as she turned away and pinched her temples.

"I'm getting there. Drue is a lot more important than he is first perceived to be now, especially for you." Wendy didn't say anything, but only stared at her cat companion with curiosity.

"Wendy…"

"CHARLE!" Drue's yells could be heard from the halls.

"Drue's….." Drue had kicked open the door and ran immediately to the door. Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, and Juvia snapped their attention on him. Drue slammed open the door.

"Your cousin." Charle finished. She turned to face Drue. He stood in the doorway motionless and shocked. The others in the living room were unable to hear Charle and started gathering in the doorway as well.

"Minna, what's going on?!" Lucy called out from the bathroom.

Wendy sat in her current spot, exchanging looks between Charle and Drue. Focusing her attention on him, she slowly stood up and walked in front of him.

"Drue…..is what she said true?" Wendy asked.

**AN: Apologies for the immensely short chapter, but I want to get this whole "cousin" ordeal completed and actually progress the story because I can tell the story is starting to become bland. I know there wasn't much development or disbelief for Wendy, but still, I want it to get it out of the way. Please Review.**


	20. Accept it or Not?

**Chapter 19: Accept it or Not?**

Drue stood there contently after Wendy had asked him the question he desperately tried to avoid even being uttered. In all honesty, he really shouldn't blame Charle for informing her since he didn't really make much of an effort to not tell her, but he digresses.

"Drue…..is what Charle said true? Are you my cousin?" Wendy asked once more in a soft tone. Drue exhaled sharply and shifted his head away from her eyes.

"Drue…" Erza had called out for his attention. She gestured her head to Wendy. Drue sighed once more.

"Well I guess there's no way out of this…." Drue muttered to himself, "Yeah, I'm your cousin, big freakin' deal. I'm going to get dinner started." Drue groaned out as he pushed through the others and into the kitchen. He reached into the ice bucket and took out a fish. He pulled out the nearest knife and began scaling it with some strong force.

Wendy quickly walked out into the kitchen as well and stood next to him.

"What do you mean by 'big freakin' deal'? How is that your my cousin?" Wendy asked. Drue never removed his eyes from the fish and ignored her question. Erza came over and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Drue…." Erza began, but he jutted his shoulder which caused her to retract it. Drue sighed contently before he shifted his gaze towards Wendy for a brief second.

"If you want to know, then ask either Erza-nee, Happy, or Charle because I have no desire to tell you anything." Drue spat at her in a low growl. Wendy's face was slightly down-casted before she walked back into the other room with Charle and closed the door. Thanks to his heightened hearing, Drue- and most likely Natsu and Gajeel- could faintly hear Charle relay the situation to Wendy and thought they heard her cry a little.

The room was dead quiet for the reminder of the coming minutes. Drue slowly prepared the rest of the meals and added the finishing ingredients to serve them. The eels were sliced into small portions topped with some cilantro. The fish were beheaded and were cooked to a delectable golden-brown, also topped with cilantro, but with a slice of lemon.

"Foods done." Drue announced. Luckily for them, the hotel also provided a small table with foldable legs. Erza took the liberty of preparing for dinner by situating it in the center of the room. Ten small blue cups and bowls were placed around the table with a set of chopsticks. Drue and Juvia brought over the food and distributed them among the rest.

"Smells good." Natsu commented as he inspected the quality, "Wendy, Charle, time to eat!"

The door slowly slid open, and the two girls in question walked out to join the rest of the group. It was evident that Wendy had cried more than anticipated because her face still had lingering streams of tears, and her eyes were bloodshot red. Drue scolded himself for already instigating tears.

"Okay, Natsu-san." Wendy said as she forced a smile. Charle only nodded and directed her attention to Drue, focusing a look of contempt at the boy. Drue responded by sneering at the small feline before he continued distributing the meals.

Lucy had just exited the bathroom wearing a simple white shirt and pink trousers. A wrapped towel covered her damp hair and two pink streaks coated her cheeks( probably a cosmetic product).

"Ahh, what a great bath. Oh, the food smells delicious!" Lucy commented. The rest began taking their seats around the table. Natsu and Gajeel sat at opposite ends/ heads of the table. Lucy took a spot next to the right of Natsu, while Gray occupied the other side. Juvia sat a little to close to Gray, and Erza sat just opposite of Juvia, beside Lucy. The only two spots left were to the right and left of Gajeel. Drue mentally sighed in relief as he relished the thought of not having to sit next to Wendy. The two adolescents took their seats.

"Alright, go ahead and eat." Drue announced as he took his set of chopsticks in his right hand. The ravenous bunch of the group wasted no time and began scarfing down the food in enormous portions. On the other hand, the females of the group sighed in exasperation at the child-ness of them and slowly started eating.

"Mmmm, this is really good, Drue-kun. I had no idea you could cook this well." Juvia praised in delight. Drue nodded his head in acceptance.

"Drue cooked this? I'll admit, I'm speechless. I have never tasted food this scrumptious in my entire life." Lucy squealed. She took another bite and clasped her cheeks in delight.

"Arigato." Drue said. He never took his eyes off his own bowl, at the risk of making eye contact with Wendy.

"I commend you, Drue. This actually taste better than my strawberry cake." Erza proclaimed with a smile. After that comment, everyone literally started choking on their food. Natsu, Happy and Gray were pounding their fist into their chest, attempting to get the food out of their throats. Lucy, Gajeel, and Juvia were coughing hysterically and chugging down large amounts of their water.

"What the heck is wrong with you guys?" Drue asked obliviously.

"D-do you not grasp the magnitude of those words?!" Natsu asked, finally hacking a fish bone from his throat. Drue merely shook his head in denial.

"N-never in our entire lives have we heard Erza utter the words "better than my cheesecake"!" Gray yelled at the boy. Drue still sat there with a look of confusion, still not being able to fathom what they were saying.

"Y *cough* yeah *cough* Erza as never said that before." Happy said. Wendy still had yet to even take a bite of her meal, but with the compliments and moans of delight, she could no longer prolong that anymore. She gracefully placed the chopsticks in her right hand and pierced the bread-coated morsel. She managed to pinch a small portion in between the utensils and slowly brought it to her mouth. After a few small blows, she placed the meat on the tip of her tongue and began chewing.

Wendy couldn't believe how delicious it was. To her, it was like Heaven had just erupted millions of tiny pieces of unimaginable flavor on each of her taste buds. She moaned under the pleasure and started shaking with satisfaction. Charle demonstrated only a minor degree of the same reaction.

"This…is…..wonderful!" Wendy sighed in satisfaction, "You're a really great cook, Drue."

Drue couldn't help but smile at the appraised. Even though he sort of detests it, coming from his cousin somehow caused him to feel…..some-what happy.

"Yeah, where did you learn to cook like this?" Gray asked.

"Before Aquaria and Electrologia adopted me, I really didn't have a home. I usually traveled across Fiore aimlessly. And since I had no choice but to independent, I learned to cook, but I wasn't that great at. Overtime through trial and error, I managed to perfect and hone my abilities to cook. This meal is the fruit of my effort." Drue explained.

"You were an orphan?" Gejeel asked. Drue's expression dropped.

"Not particularly. I did have a family. A father and sister, but we were….uh….separated for a long time. Even to this day, I don't know where they are." Drue said. Everyone was surprised at the mention of this.

"You have a sister?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, I had a sister."

Drue was receiving questionable looks from everyone, and grew uncomfortable. He was about to just ask them politely to stop, but he got an idea of what he thought would be amusing.

"STOP STARING AT ME!" Drue roared. Everyone retracted at the sudden outburst. Drue pointed at all of them with monstrous white eyes.

"I'M SENSITIVE! I GET HIGHLY UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN PEOPLE STARE AT ME!"

"Geez, what snapped in your head?" Gray asked. Drue responded with a punch to the gut. Gray was sent flying into the kitchen and broke the counters.

"You little bastard! Ice Make: Lance!" Gray prepared an attack but when he fired it, it accidently hit Natsu.

"Gray, you prick! What was that for?!" Natsu roared as he ignited flames on his fist. Gray walked forward and stood directly in front of him in a fighting stance.

"You wanna go, Hot-Pink-Head!?" Natsu and Gray soon found themselves in a small brawl on the table. Their punches and kicks sending the food flying in various directions and the others.

"Natsu, Gray, stop!" Lucy yelled, but her plead was ignored.

"Bastards, you got my shirt dirty." Gajeel bellowed as he soon joined the fray, along with Erza.

The small, but ferocious brawl ensued. Hard blows and insults were exchanged as Drue sat in the corner satisfied.

"Hm, I was right. This is far more entertaining than I anticipated." Drue said, nodding his head success.

* * *

The fight had eventually stopped when the manager barged in after being pestered with noise complaints from the other guests. The females had decided it was time to sleep, and went in the other room. The guys were sprawled out in the main room. They laid rest on futons that were located in the closet and were fast asleep. Drue was still awake; alone with his thoughts as he was situated in the veranda.

"Finally, some peace and quiet." Drue whispered to himself. Drue's nighttime attire consisted of a gray t-shirt and blue shorts. He sat there motionless as he grasped the world around him. The small commotion of the dense streets below began to steadily diminish with the hours drawing into the night. Some crickets could be heard chirping and fireflies added a mesmerizing scenic view of the night. A full moon illuminated the night sky and provided sight to our young Dragon Slayer. He had come to the decision to not attempt escaping tonight, due to exhaustion, and the events that transpired that day. But mostly, the fear of being disciplined by Erza again had a large influence on his decision. Drue had his head resting on his knuckles, propped upon his thighs. He stared at the moon and all its radiance as he began reminiscing a moment during his past.

"Nee-chan." Drue whispered.

_Flashback….._

_A young boy sat alone in the center of his cell; clutching his knees to his chest and sobbing._

"_Drue?" A soft voice called out. The five-year-old lifted his head. The person-whom's eyes he contacted- was his nine-year-old sister, Luia._

"_What N-Nee-chan?" Drue stuttered out. Luia walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder._

"_Why are you crying? This those guys pick on you again?" Luia asked in concern. Drue only nodded his head he rubbed his eyes. Luia embraced her brother and rubbed his back for comfort. _

_"Nee-chan, why do they pick on me? I didn't do anything wrong to provoke them, did I?" _

_Luia smiled softly at him," No, Drue. They're just mean boys that feel it's necessary to make others feel worse to make themselves feel better." _

"_Why would they do that?" Drue asked._

_Luia pondered over this question for a brief moment._

"_Well, think about. We're stuck in this God forsaken hole. We're treated with less dignity than the dogs, and are tortured indiscriminately. The guards are far stronger than they are, and they feel inferior. They pick on you so they can have some sense of pride, no matter how despicable it is on how they get it. Do you understand?" Luia asked._

"_I think I do."_

"_But don't worry about it, okay? In a short time, we'll all escape this hellhole, and you won't have to worry about them anymore." Luia whispered enthusiastically._

"_Nee-chan, how can you be so certain this plan will work? I mean, I know those confined within the Tower of Heaven managed to pull it off, but how do you expect us to escape? Our people are malnourished and weak. We can't possibly-" Drue was interrupted by a hug._

"_Don't be such a pessimist. We'll get out of here together and live the lives father intended for us to live." Luia gave a reassuring smile, "But promise me one thing Drue: when we get out of here, I don't ever want you treating others with prejudice and discrimination. I don't you to be like the boys that pick on you."_

"_I promise." Drue said as he extended his pinkie. Luia giggled at this and interlocked her pinkie with his._

"_Good. I know you'll make amazing friends when we escape. And I know that those friends will also be like family to you, too. Family is important Drue. You can trust them no matter what conflict you face. Never discard that." Luia said._

"_Nee-chan, there's no need to say that. I know how important family is. I have you, don't I?" Drue said with a grin. _

"_Yeah." Luia agreed_

_We'll make it out of here together….family is important…_

_End of Flashback…._

"Family is important." Drue murmured to himself, " *sigh* Just when I'm beginning to reconsider that perception, a flash about us as children always makes me disregard my doubts." He chuckled slightly. He heard the sliding door open behind him. He looked back to see Wendy standing in the doorway. She was wearing nothing but an orange top and white shorts and had tears streaming down her cheeks. Drue stood up in concern.

"Wendy, what's wron-" Wendy had lunged herself at Drue, embracing him in a tight hug. She burrowed her face into his shoulder, quickly soaking his shirt with her tears. Drue was caught by complete surprise and tensed up at the sudden action.

"Wendy, why are you crying?" Drue asked in a soft, yet concerned tone. Wendy only tightened her grasp and sobbed slightly louder. Drue sighed in sympathy as he wrapped his arms around her for comfort. He repetitively patted her back in an attempt to get her to finish quicker. After what seemed like hours, Wendy had finally calmed down and looked up at Drue.

"Drue…..I was crying because I was overwhelmed with joy." Wendy revealed. Drue grunted questionably at her, "I mean, I have a cousin. Another family member. Do you know what that entails?"

"Uhhh….no?" Drue said like it was question. Wendy giggled at his ignorance and hugged him tighter.

"It means I can finally be at peace, again. Like I was with Grandeeney. When she left, I had this unbelievable sense of abandonment and despair. Even though I had Charle and now, Fairy Tail, I still had this lingering feeling of loneliness. But now knowing I have an amazing cousin with me as well, I can finally be truly happy again." Wendy said. Even though every word was heart-touching for her, they were unnerving and like blades penetrating to Drue's heart. This was something he desperately want to avoid. Not only did he fail at maintain his relative connection to her enclosed, she even accepted him-in an instant- she accepted him without hesitation.

"But Drue…." Wendy began. Drue looked down at the small twelve-year-old.

"Yeah?" He asked hesitantly.

"I need to know…if you accept me as family, like I have just accepted you. I still need closure on this. I don't want have any feelings of doubt between us, so I need to know if you'll fully recognize me as your family too. Please." Wendy pleaded as she poked her bottom lip out.

"Wendy…I don't..." Drue sighed, but his answer was interrupted as he caught sight of her face down-casting, and tears accumulating in her eyes. Drue was absolutely heart-broken at the girl before him. He never wanted this because of this exact reason: to cause her sadness. He knows if he says 'no', he would cause her pain and sorrow, and he couldn't do that. But if he says yes, what pain might await him in the future? He was stuck between two severe decisions that could spell trouble either way.

_Family is important, Drue. You can trust them no matter what conflict you face. Don't ever discard that…_ He heard his sisters voice. Drue gasped slightly in realization. He looked back down to Wendy and smiled.

"Wendy…." Drue placed his hand on her head, " You're my cousin." Wendy was overwhelmed with happiness, that she tackled Drue to the floor and gave him a bear hug.

"T-thank…..you…..Drue!" Wendy said in between sniffles as she started crying tears of joy.

"Wendy…..can't breath." Drue managed to wheeze out from under her death like grip.

"I don't care!" Wendy replied in joy. Drue on the other hand passed out over-dramatically, but quickly regained consciousness after Wendy let go and apologized. Drue rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while Wendy could only giggle in embarrassment. They relaxed slightly and embraced each other once more under the moonlight.

Unbeknownst to them, everyone else was standing or sitting in the main room,. Smiling at the sight before them. They were awakened by the noise and commotion that was occurring between the two, and were glad they were.

_Proud of you, Drue. You made the right decision…._ Erza thought. Charle couldn't resist the urge to tear up in her eyes because she was happy that Wendy found complete happiness.

* * *

We cut away to slowly skimming across a barren landscape. Scorched beyond recovery and the faint sound of metal clanking against the crust of the planet. The clanking gradually intensifies as he travel to the source of the commotion. A large excavating site that burrows well deep below the crust of the earth. A thick cloud of black smoke emanating from the midst and leisurely dissipating into the atmosphere. We began to enter and can measure the true scale of the ingratiation of the hole. Various levels that progressively coiled further down –the top designated as the first level and progresses correspondingly.

"Come on, brat. No slacking off!" A guard scolded a young boy as he whipped his back. The boy cried out in agony and fell to his knees. He was whipped again and immediately stood up as he continued to carry a load of rocks down the site.

"You, who said you could rest!?" Another guard yelled as he kicked a young girl that ceased picking at the 'foundation' with his pick axe. She almost teared up, but another whipping dared her to continue.

We continue down into the excavation as the sound of working begins to become faint. A large steel door was unlatched revealing a glorious, well conditioned office. A gold plated chandelier hung from the ceiling providing substantial light. The floor was adorned with a bear pelt, two chairs were situated symmetrically on both sides. A varnished desk was placed on the opposite side of the room, with a man currently occupying the seat facing away from the door.

"What is it?" A stern, male voice asked.

"Father, we have yet to receive word from Tak or Dan since they departed five days ago. Venom and I are growing concern." A young man with coal hair and black eyes said. The man in the seat had turned around to face them.

"Oh, I never thought you cared about those idiots, Cotwo." The main said with astonishment in his voice.

"I don't. It's impossible to care any less about those weaklings." Cotwo said. Cotwo was a man of average height and build. He had well toned skin and had black eyes and coal hair. His attire consisted that of mainly dark colors. He wore dark-gray trousers with ends tucked in charcoal black boots. He wore a black vest with gray trim. He also had a katana encased in black hanging from his waist.

Venom was also a man with average height, build, and toned skin. His hair was a dark-green as his eyes were onyx colored. He wore a green vest with black trim and white trousers. He also wore gray boots and had white bandages covering his fore-arms.

"Than what seems to be the reason to disturb my solitude in peace?" The man asked.

"Usually, those fools would send a prior notice upon returning. Their missions only last a total of three days before they send a message. They haven't." Venom informed.

"And we believe they found _him_." Cotwo finished. This caught the direct attention of their father, the man of which grinned.

"Drue, huh? What has it been? Nine years since we last saw of him? What makes you so sure it's him?" The man asked.

"Those two may be idiots, but they are elusive. Besides, they wouldn't stir up trouble unless it's absolutely necessary. For someone capable enough to annihilate them in some preconceived succession must be the one who instigated it. And the only one that comes to mind is Drue. He would be the only one influenced by invigoration to do it, since he was the only one who ever escaped." Venom said.

"Don't ever bring that subject up again. I know what he did, but there's no need to reiterate that, understand?"

"Hai!" Both of them said in unison.

"Leave my presence. If it is in fact him, we have no need to worry. My power is far superior than anything he may have learned over the years. I can take him out without it being much of a warm-up. Leave!" The man said. They bowed and exited the office.

* * *

"Ugh….father's over-confidence is really distasteful. I can't grasp his mentality anymore. Ever since he acquired his powers, he has the misconception that he rivals a god. He may have the power and brute force, but his ego has sure inflated." Cotwoo complained. Venom had playfully slapped him in the back of his head, mush to Cotwo's displeasure.

"You should have more gratitude for father and refrain from insulting him. He gave us our powers as well, you shouldn't repay his actions with disdain." Venom jeered as he drank a cup of a neon-green liquid.

"*sigh* I guess…You really need to cutback on your poison. I know your power permits you to eat that, but even I know the amount you drink isn't good for you're body." Cotwoo said.

A yell had caught their attention as they looked over to the level below to see a boy growling at one of the guards.

"Hey! Get back to work!" Venom yelled at the boy.

"No, You jackass! I'm tired of suffering at your amusement! I'm done!" The young child screamed. The other spectators and even some of the guards moved away as a menacing aura enveloped Venom.

"A jackass, huh? Well, if you're so foolishly believe you'll leave, then fine, let me assist." Venom extended his right arm out and a neon-green liquid enveloped his hand. The boy began trembling in fear as he started backing away.

"What are you?..."

"Acid Dragon's Burning Fang." Venom hissed as he shot a cyclone of his attack at the boy. The moment it made contact, the boy was instantly disintegrated into nothingness.

"Onii-chan!" A young girl cried as she ran over to the place her brother once stood.

"Get back to work before you join him!" Cotwo threatened. The girl ignored him and only cried over her loss. Cotwo inhaled a sharp breath.

"Smoke Dragon's Roar!" The black vortex had instantly vaporized the small girl as well, and the other children gasped in shock.

"Anyone else want to defy us?!" Venom Tempted. The other children didn't respond and continued to work. Venom smiled in satisfaction as he and Cotwo started laughing manically. The guards soon joined and their laughter echoed throughout the chasm.

* * *

**AN: Next chapter, they'll all be at Mt. Hakobe. For a better height comparison between Drue and Wendy: the top of Wendy's head reaches up to his nose. Please review.**


	21. Mt Hakobe

**AN: I want to thank all the support I have received from all you readers. I know my story hasn't been the most interesting since I'm still in the rising action, but I commend you for your patience. Also, I'm starting to "recover" my vocabulary, but It's still stagnant, and I'm dealing with upcoming finals, since I'm a Freshmen, but I know you guys and gals don't care about my inner quarrels. Well, on to chapter 20!**

* * *

**Chapter 20: Mt. Hakobe**

We now relay our scene to the base of the infamous Mt. Hakobe. The notorious mountain already sending harsh gusts of wind with freezing temperatures and a white-out. Our protagonists had decided it was best to not to stay at the hotel for another day, considering the headaches that arose during the first. Drue had luckily received a refund of about 4.5 thousand jewels, but he had to pay for the property damages courtesy of Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel, and was reduced to 2.7 thousand. They had covered a large amount ground during the morning commute and- much to Natsu's dismay- had a kind man carry them in an Ox Cart to the mountain base.

They begin ascending up the hazardous terrain.

"'Ah-choo! Again, I came here in only light-clothing! Why must I endure this?!'….she says." Hologium relayed Lucy's whining from his insides. Wendy and Lucy were both huddled beneath a thick blanket inside him. Both shivering profusely in each other's embrace.

"Ugh, I told you that we would be arriving here today. You should have prepared by at least wearing something to retain your body heat!" Drue scolded Lucy and Wendy in the confines of Hologium.

"' I'm sorry, Drue, but you didn't exactly give us enough time to prepare. You insisted that it was imperative that we get her by sunrise, and we didn't get the chance to buy jackets! Besides, you're wearing a skin-tight shirt and a cloak, so you shouldn't be belittling us!' …..she says." Hologium sighed in a high pitched voice for Wendy. Drue was wearing a white cloak with a large hood covering his head. Similarly to his shirt, a yin-yang symbol was on the back with a dragon design coiled around it

"Whatever! Besides, Lucy-san, isn't it taking advantage of your spirits if you're reliant on them for refuge from the weather?" Drue asked.

"'Under normal circumstances, yes. But this is an exception'….she says."

Drue sighed disapprovingly as he quickly walked to the head of the great. The weather was progressively getting worse, and as a result, our most enduring of characters were even having difficulties coping with it.

Drue was the only one who seemed to be unaffected by the weather. He never faltered, nor did his body shiver in an attempt to signify being cold.

"Oi, Drue! How is it that you're able to bear the weather?" Natsu asked from his right. Drue turned his head to look in his direction.

"I used to live on this mountain four years ago. At first, it was rather difficult to tolerate, but overtime, I grew accustomed to it." Drue explained.

"How could you live up here?!" Juvia asked. Drue didn't answer as he started surveying what he could during the white-out.

"Drue, do you even know where you're going?" Erza asked in concern. Drue looked at her and nodded.

"Yes. Over the years when I resided here, I grew familiar with the landscape and can navigate through it with relative ease." Drue assured her.

"HOW CAN YOU BE FAMILIAR WITH JUST SNOW?!" Everyone yelled in unison. Tis true. As you could look around from their location, there weren't any other mountains visible, nor any distinctive landmarks. The girls started to get anxious about being lost.

"If we continue this way with our current pace, we'll be able to see a town." Drue informed. The group continued their ascent up the mountain. The winds grew more and more ferocious and the snow was starting to pelt them even harder. Natsu was starting to shiver and blew his flames in his hands to warm up.

As an hour passed, the snowfall had suddenly diminished until only a miniscule amount leisurely descended from the sky. Most of them looked around in astonishment and skepticism.

"Drue, what's going on?" Natsu asked as he quickened his pace to be next to the boy.

"There are magic runes established set up around a the vicinity of the town to restrict the flow of snow." Drue explained. Our heroes looked behind them to see purple runes emerge from the snow. On the opposite side, snow hailed down viciously while barely any descended on their side.

Drue only smirked as they came upon a hill. Once they reached the top, in the far distance, faint lights and dark structures could be seen in the light fog that enveloped a supposed town.

"We're here." Drue stated with a slightly upset expression on his face. Everyone rejoiced as they all ran ahead, leaving Drue and Erza alone.

_Can I even step a mere ten feet away from this place without remembering her?..._Drue thought as a painful expression crept to his face. Erza noticed the sudden change in his demeanor and placed a hand on his left shoulder.

"What's wrong, Drue? Feeling sick or something?" Erza asked in concern. Drue shook his head as he started walking to the town in a slow pace.

"Ahhh…it's nothing, Erza-nee." Drue said in distraught tone. Erza watched as his eyes acquired a look of sorrow and pain as his eyes never averting the ground. She sighed in exasperation and followed in his trace.

* * *

"Sheesh, what took you guys so long?" Gajeel asked, very annoyed.

"Sorry, I guess Drue doesn't feel so well because he was walking rather slow and staggered a bit." Erza apologized. Everyone turned their attention at said boy. Wendy walked up to him and placed her hand on his arm.

"Drue, what's wrong?" Wendy asked. Drue's bangs enveloped his eyes in a shadow, therefore it was difficult to tell if he even acknowledged her or not. It must have been the latter as he continued walking into the small town, past the others.

"What's gottin' into him?" Gray asked.

"Not sure. He just abruptly started acting depressed." Erza said.

"That kid's complex. I can't understand what goes on through that head of his." Lucy commented. Erza made a slight glare at her but discarded the comment. They began walking and soon caught up with Drue.

"Oh, welcome young travelers!" an elderly man wearing a chef's cap and apron announced from the front of a building with the symbol for food hanging from a sign. Everyone except Drue and Gajeel responded with beaming smiles.

"My, my we have some young folk before us here. What brings you here out in the middle of nowhere?" The elderly man asked.

"We are Fairy Tail Wizards. We were just passing through here. It is nice to meet you; I'm Erza Scarlet." Erza bowed out of respect. The bowed as well as the others began introducing themselves.

"Natsu Dragneel, Fire Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail!" Natsu proclaimed proudly.

"I'm Wendy Marvell, the Sky Dragon Slayer. Nice to meet you, sir." Wendy said with a large smile.

"Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer." Gajeel spat in annoyed tone. The others except Drue introduced themselves as well. Drue had his back turned away from them as he stared aimlessly into the rest of the town. His hood covering his head and conforming around his face.

The old man was quite perplexed as the introductions were concluded.

"Dragon Slayers? Wow, we haven't seen those type of magic wielders in a long time. Oh, my name is Tomo." Tomo said. This caught the attention of everyone while Drue tensed slightly.

"You've seen more?" Natsu asked in a serious tone.

Tomo nodded, " Yes. Our prospering little village once housed two others. They were so nice."

"Do you by chance remember whom they were?" Wendy asked.

"Indeed, I do. One was an Ice Dragon Slayer. He was always so cheerful and exuberant. Furthermore, being in a mountain with freezing temperatures, there was never an absence of ice for him consume. I believe his name was Seo. He had spikey red hair and brown eyes, and was quite young. Last time I saw him, he was fourteen." Tomo explained.

"And what of the other one?" Gajeel asked abrasively.

"Haaah, he's the one I truly cared for and miss the most. He was an odd one at first, but overtime, he slowly grew on me. He was a blonde with dark-green eyes that always instigated the feeling of curiosity. He was the culmination of two dragons. My age is obscuring my memory…um….oh he used water and thunder." The man said in realization. The mention of those two elements caused the group to turn their heads towards Drue.

Drue sighed as he turned around and removed his hood. The elderly man was rendered speechless as he started trembling in shock.

Drue averted his eyes while a small smile graced his lips, "Hey, old man. It's been a while."

Tomo slowly walked forward and hugged Drue once he was in arms reach. Tears accumulated in the old man's eyes as he was overwhelmed with the feelings of joy.

"I-i-it's great to see you again, Drue! Where have you been all these years?" Tomo croaked out as he tightened his grasp. Tomo was a couple inches taller than Drue, so Drue had to reach his arm up slightly to comfort him.

"Oi, gramps, don't tell me you've gotten soft in the four years I've been gone." Drue commented. Tomo instantly released Drue and stood with a straight posture and a more composed demeanor.

"Of course not! Don't be ridiculous, boy. The smoke from the misses' cooking had just finally started to affect me; that's all." Tomo said as he cleared his throat. Drue smirked, not buying the un-clever ploy.

"What ever you say, old man. May we come in? Some of my companions are on the verge of frostbite."

"Of course, of course. Make yourselves comfortable. Nova, honey, come out here. There's someone you must see." Tomo shouted as he cuffed his hand around his mouth to amplify his voice.

"Coming, dear. Who is it?" A sweet, elderly voiced asked. A woman that appeared to be in her mid-sixties stepped out wiping her hands in a rag. Once she turned the corner from the kitchen, she shrieked in joy as she ran up and hugged Drue in a death hug.

"Ahhhhh, Drue! I can't believe it's you!" The woman known as Nova squealed as she spun Drue around in her arms.

"I can see you still have your monstrous strength." Drue groaned from her grip. She soon put him down and gestured her arm to a vacant table while she went to go fetch some refreshments. The restaurant was very welcoming. Hardwood floors, a front bar, tables situated near the windows, wide lamps hung from the ceiling, and varnished tables made from the rarest wood available.

Nova soon emerged from the kitchen once again and gently placed ten cups of hot chocolate on the table. She grabbed a nearby stool sat near Drue in the aisle.

"So, Drue, where have you been all these years? Why haven't you contacted us? Who are your new friends? Where's Seo? Where…"

"Oi, Oi, Nova-sama, one question at a time please." Drue chuckled at the bombardment of questions the woman expelled from her endless sea of questions.

"My apologies…it's….just been so long. I haven't seen you since…..well…_that_ night." Nova said cautiously. Drue frowned as he recalled the events of the night she was implying.

"Yeah."

"So Drue, who are these people? They seem to be rather fond of you to rejoice this way." Wendy asked as she took a small sip of her cocoa.

"Oh, my apologies for not properly introducing her. Her name is Nova Ocala. She's like a grandmother to me and cared for me when I settled here. I arrived here a few months after my dragons disappeared. Incidentally, the people here couldn't fathom a child as I was to be raised by two, so they didn't believe me and often insulted me. But Nova-sama here on the contrary did, and comforted me for years." Drue explained.

Nova tapped his shoulder, "Anyways, so Drue, who's the cute girl? Is she by chance your girlfriend?" Nova mischievously smiled as she elbowed him softly in the ribs. Wendy blushed profusely at the question and averted her eyes as she was reminded of the crush she had before she was knew Drue was her cousin.

"Ah, no. She's my cousin, Wendy Marvell." Drue smiled sheepishly at the woman.

"Oooh, that's much better. She's so endearing." Nova clapped her hands, "You better take care of her, Drue, and make sure she chooses a decent man as her lover."

Wendy's blush only intensified as metaphorical steam shot from her ears. Drue laughed in amusement at her actions as he clasped his hand on top of her head.

"She's still far too young to concern herself with that. Besides, the only other individual that comes close to our age is a six-year-old named Romeo, and I doubt anything will happen there regarding a relationship, unless she's interested in young boys." Drue said as he stared at Wendy suspiciously. She waved her arms frantically, denying that crude accusation. Drue chuckled as he rubbed his hand on her hand again.

"Oh, you two must have a deep connection for Drue to do that to you, Wendy-chan." Tomo interjected as he joined in the conversation.

"Oh, why is that, Tomo-san?" Juvia asked.

"Drue only performs that action to those he trust and cares for. From our cognitive knowledge, he's only done that with two other people." Tomo explained.

"That aside, how's your cooking? Has it improved?" Nova asked, disregarding her husbands statement.

"That's an unusual question to ask all of a sudden." Gray said.

"What's more unusual is that you're almost exposed in my restaurant, boy. Put some clothes on." Tomo scolded Gray as said teen gasped in shock.

"Well, Nova-sama here is the one who helped me hone my cooking abilities. She taught me everything I know." Drue said.

Nova stood from her chair as she went over to a private shelf and pulled out a thick book from between two recipe books, and returned to her seat.

"That reminds me of so many memories. Drue wasn't always the best at cooking, and often times conjured up meals that were either inedible, or a severe health hazard." Nova said a she opened up the book to reveal a diversity of pictures. All of which were either of the elderly couple or Drue. Everyone leaned forward to get a better view. Nova turned the book around 180 degrees and began showing a lot of pictures.

"I took a lot of pictures of Drue's culinary failures. If my memory serves me correctly, he was eight at the time." Nova said as she arrived at the 'Drue' portion of the album. The moment everyone saw the first picture, they instantly busted out laughing.

The picture showed a young Drue holding a spatula and wearing a chef's cap like Tomo's. He was covered in white slurry from head-to-toe with a guilty expression. The picture revealed the entire kitchen covered in a white paste with some splotches on the walls and Tomo slipping and falling.

"HAHAHAHA, Wow, I've never seen such a mess, even when I try to cook!" Natsu laughed as he pounded his fist repeatedly on the table.

"It's not that funny. I was just…experimenting, that's all." Drue said in an agitated tone. Nova turned the page, and the next picture only fueled their laughter even more. Drue was charred beyond comprehension as his hair was singed and he was sitting on the floor rubbing his eyes. The stovetop still was set a blaze while Tomo was rolling on the floor with his arm on fire.

"Drue-kun was _that_ bad?!" Juvia said, putting much emphasis on 'that', and clutched her sides from her hysterical laughter.

"Yeah, he was. I swear, our medical insurance increased significantly from all of the injuries I sustained. We also had to renovate the kitchen multiple times." Tomo commented, receiving a glare from Drue.

After many pictures of amusing failures and uncontrollable laughter, they came across a picture similar to the previous ones, except there was a young girl with silver hair and brown eyes with Drue. She was wearing a black kimono with a yin-yang insignia on her right chest area. Drue was on the floor in red paste while the unnamed girl accidently spilled flour and more red paste onto Drue while she slipped. Everyone else laughed, but Drue remained dead quiet.

"You dragged another person into your mishaps?!" Wendy asked as she leaned on Drue's shoulder and laughed. The laughter soon diminished as the others regained their composures, and Gray recovered his clothes. Nova turned the page again to reveal a picture of Drue and the young girl. This time, both were unscathed and not covered in food.

"Ahhh, Drue was so cute as a kid." Lucy complimented as she clasped her hands around her face. Erza and Juvia nodded in agreement, while the other guys imputed comments regarding how they were cuter when they were his age.

"I remember the night this photo was taken. Apparently, the two of them were on what the she referred to as a 'date'. It was so adorable!" Nova squealed in delight.

"A DATE!?" Everyone bellowed.

"But, They're so young." Lucy said in disbelief.

"Well, if my memory serves me correctly, it wasn't really a legitimate date…more like an outing against a person's will." Tomo said as he poked his chin with his index finger. Everyone stared at Drue with shock.

"You forced her to go on a date with you?" Gajeel asked, slightly disgusted at the revelation of his actions.

"Actually…..it was the other way around." Nova interjected.

"WHAT!?"

"Yes. Apparently, Drue was a rather dense individual. He was always oblivious to her affections towards him, and often brushed it off. On this night, she dragged him out of his chambers and forced him into going out with her. It was hilarious." Tomo revealed as he stifled a chuckle. The others also stifled their laughter, but returned their attention to the photo.

Drue and the girl both wore black kimonos with white edges. As previously mentioned, a yin-yang insignia adorned the right pectoral region of both kids. The picture showed Drue standing in the middle of a dim-lit restaurant and smiling. The silver-haired girl was also smiling and stood to the right of him. She also had her arms wrapped around Drue's neck as she held her body close to his and leaned her head on his.

"That's cute." Erza commented with a smile. Nova turned the page over, and the next picture nearly made everyone's eyes bulge out of their heads. The venue of the picture remained the same, but what the girl was doing made everyone else gasp in shock. The girl had her eyes closed and a visible blush graced her cheeks. She was leaning very close to Drue and bestowing a kiss on his cheek. Young Drue looked absolutely petrified and flustered as he was staring at the floor with a blush that rivaled Erza's hair.

"Wow, already entering second–base on the first date. Damn, I'm envious." Gajeel said. Drue didn't acknowledge the comment. Staring contently at the photo, a small tear accumulated in his right eye and streamed down his cheek. His bangs covered his eyes as he clenched his teeth.

"Ah, yes. Drue was speechless after she did that. You should have seen the way he acted after. I wish I had a video lacrima to record it, such a shame." Nova sighed. Drue stood up from his seat and began walking toward the front entrance. Everyone eyed him curiously.

Nova and Tomo smiled, "Oi, Drue, what's with the look on your face? Need some fr-"

"Shut the hell up." Drue said coldly to the older couple. They gasped in shock and retracted slightly.

"Oi, Drue, that was highly inappropriate. Apologize now!" Erza reprimanded him. Drue ignored her and flicked his hood back over his head. Drue opened the door and slammed it shut as he exited the restaurant.

"Tch, what the hell's with that kid. He's fine one moment, and the next, he acts so cold-hearted. I don't get it." Natsu scoffed. He looked over to the older couple and a sympathetic expression took place.

"Are you two okay?" Natsu asked. They directed their attention to the salmon-haired mage and nodded.

"Yeah. It's our fault for invoking him like that." Tomo said as he comforted his wife by rubbing her right arm.

Everyone arched their brows, "Why?"

"We intruded upon a sensitive topic for Drue. You see, this girl passed away four years ago." Nova enlightened.

"What? How?" Juvia asked.

"We're are not in a position to disclose that information. But all we can say is this: whether Drue acknowledges the feelings or not, he did have genuine feelings for her- love, and she was taken away from him on a horrible night that still haunts everyone in this village to this very day." Nova concluded.

"How sad." Wendy said downcasted.

"Try to be sympathetic to his feelings. Drue has had a rather nerve-wrecking past that very few could understand. His mind isn't the most stable for people his age." Tomo pleaded. Natsu sunk into his chair. He slightly understood Drue's reasoning for his cold actions. He's the same when he recollects past memories of his long-deceased childhood friend, Lisanna. Erza only knew of the surface of his troubles. She had yet to understand the true depths of his despair.

A unsettling quietness settled upon the group as only the gust of the outside winds filled the room.

* * *

Drue slowly walked up a set of old steps from the base of a hill. His mind was preoccupied with recollections of his friend.

_Hikari…..I'm sorry._

* * *

**Please Review.**


	22. Nostalgia

**Chapter 21: Nostalgia**

* * *

**Drue's P.O.V.**

After climbing the ice-covered flight of stairs along the side of a steep hill, an archway composed of wood immediately greeted me. I could immediately distinguish the burned sections of wood and mold accumulating on the surface.

"I guess after four years of no one inhabiting this place, it wouldn't come as much as a surprise for this place to fall apart." I commented to myself as I ventured further into enclosure. Beyond the entrance, a large courtyard composed of stones had multiple wooden posts erecting from it along the perimeter. Wooden buildings also framed the perimeter of the courtyard. The buildings were relatively simple, thick paper walls adorned the exterior with multiple yin-yang insignias and other fluid designs, as the rest was constructed entirely of wood that was deteriorating greatly from exposure to the harsh gust of winds.

"This is immensely nostalgic. I hope it remained unharmed." I croaked as I mentally prepared myself to enter the large building opposite of the entrance. I stood a mere inch away from the doors and inhaled a large breath to alleviate my nerves. I grasped the two sliding doors with my hands and effortlessly pushed them open.

Even with my heightened sight, it was still rather difficult to see inside. I still disregarded that diminutive issue and closed the doors behind me after I stepped in. I precariously walked forward and grazed my hands on any object to help navigate through the dark room.

"God, it has been a long time. I can't even remember where that stupid fireplace is!" I spat out in aggravation. I believe a good ten minutes passed before I was able to distinguish a grain-like sensation with my hands and concluded it was the fire place. I leaned down close to opening and snapped my thumb and middle finger together. A small spark resulted and soon ignited a flame. Luckily for me, I am acquainted with a minor degree of fire magic, but since I'm mostly a water mage, I didn't pursue improving my abilities associated with it.

"Okay, that's much better. Let me see. Where is that book?" I asked to myself as I surveyed the dim-lit room for the book shelf. I could conclude that I was in the designated "eating lounge", as my sanseis called it. There were many tables situated symmetrically on one half of the room, while the other accommodated a large kitchen. I looked over to the left portion of the room and saw a small book case blending in to the corner of the room.

Walking over to it slowly, I took off my hoodie and threw it on one of the nearby tables. Once I arrived in front of the books, I knelt down and slowly let my caress the dust covered book. My hand ceased once I grasped an untitled book.

I brought close to my face and blew the accumulated dust off and sat at the nearest table.

The book was basically a cornucopia of photographs of the senseis and enrolled adolescents. The most notable instance of all of them were the black kimonos with white edges and yin-yang insignias. Except, the masters wore those of the opposite color scheme. I skimmed over many pictures.

"God, she took a lot of these," I commented, "Hikari, how did you persuade me into purchasing a camera for you little sister, huh?"

I came across a photo with four students and a wolf. One of them was me. The seemed to have captured a rare moment for me. I rarely smiled while I attended this secluded school, but this picture definitely immortalized one. Then there was Hikari and her younger sister Yuuki. Both of them bared a strong resemblance to one another to where they were almost identical, except for their eyes. Hikari possessed brown eyes while Yuuki had blue ones. The other person was Seo. He was my best friend long before coming to this school. We were introduced to one another by our foster dragon parents a year before their sudden disappearance, and we were inseverable. An accessory we both wielded were katanas adorned in scale patterns, except his was white, and mine was blue. Lastly, the wolf. His name was Ogami. We encountered each other before I was adopted while I traveled around the country.

I clutched the corner of the page, but was cautious to not damage the photo.

"Everyone….." I whispered as I clasped my face with my left hand.

* * *

_Flashback…._

"Drue-kun!" An angelic voice called out to a ten-year-old Drue. He shifted his head to attain peripheral vision over his left shoulder.

"Hm? Hikari…what is it?" Drue asked coldly. Hikari sprinted through the thick snow that covered the terrain beyond the boundaries of the school.

As she came closer, she accidently tripped and fell face first in the snow. She sunk deep beneath the surface and left a large imprint of her figure.

Drue arched his brow, patiently waiting for the girl to resurface. Hikari quickly stood up and brushed the patches of snow from her kimono.

"Why are you out here? Seo and I have been looking everywhere for you! My father requested you presence in his chambers." Hikari said as she realigned her posture and spoke in a calm manner.

"Huh? Why does he wish to see me?" Drue asked. Hikari shrugged her shoulders as she moved closer to Drue and took her hand in his. Drue tensed slightly under the sudden contact.

"Aooooh, why so tense, Drue-kun?" Hikari chuckled. She rested her head on his shoulder and began walking in a slow pace with Drue.

"Well…..it's just that I'm not used to this sort of thing." Drue said as he rubbed the back of his head with his free arm.

Hikari sighed, "Drue, you and I have been dating for a week now. You need to become more limp and get used to it. I thought I was pretty clear with how our relationship is intended to be on our date last week. We are girlfriend and boyfriend"

Drue groaned as he narrowed his eyes, "Yeah, but you still haven't explained the whole concept of dating to me. Also, wouldn't being friends and opposite genders negate the purpose of regarding each other as 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'?"

Hikari sighed irritably as a noticeable bulge emerged from her forehead.

"Your dense nature is really starting to annoy me."

"And yet you still remain in my presence." Drue smiled. Hikari lightly punched him on the side of the head.

Hikari blew on her knuckles, "I'm going to pretend I never heard that. Anyway, in your perception, yes, it would undermine the purpose of calling each other that, but those words have a deep meaning."

Drue tilted his head in curiosity, " How so? Can you elaborate?"

"Those two words bind us to a severe commitment to one another. They indicate our strong, affectionate feelings for one another."

Drue cuffed his hand around his chin as he made a strong effort to process the simple concept.

"I still don't quite understand." Drue beamed defeated. Hikari sweat dropped at his density and concluded it was fruitless to try and get him to understand, so she didn't respond.

The young couple ventured further within the confines of the school. They were receiving multiple stares and gawks from many of the other students. Some of the other girls even squealed at the mere sight of Drue, but quickly became silent after invoking Hikari's death glare.

"It seemed we attracted a lot of attention." Drue commented.

"Well, think of it as praise, Drue-kun. Not only are you dating the master's daughter, but you're also quite cute." Hikari complimented.

Drue sighed, "Yeah, but prior to last week, none of them would even acknowledge my presence, and now they're suddenly staring at me with intent. It's rather uncomfortable."

Hikari giggled, " Don't be so modest. Like I said, you've somehow managed to acquire my unconditional feelings. They're probably not accustomed to that yet."

Hikari leaned over and kissed Drue on the cheek.

Drue's cheeks instantaneously became pink and diverted his gaze away from her.

"Drue, there's no need to get flustered!" Hikari laughed at her boyfriend. Drue didn't reply, but he returned the favor. The soft touch of his lips on her cheeks rendered Hikari speechless, and her face was as red as a beet.

"Hm, so what was that about getting flustered?" Drue teased with a subtle smug gracing his features.

"S-s-shut u-u-up!" Hikari stuttered in a timid tone.

Drue chuckled.

"But that does exemplify progress." Hikari said. Drue ceased his laughter.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Last week, you wouldn't have had the courage to even embrace me, but now you just kissed me, even though it was a minor peck on the cheek." Hikari explained.

"Okay, so what does that mean?"

"It means that…..that…..when we get m-m-married, we'll be comfortable with one another. And…..we can fully express our undying love for each other without the atmosphere being awkward." Hikari concluded shyly.

Drue stopped walking, " Married? Aren't you rushing this? I'm not an expert, but Isn't the relationship between a couple supposed to occur for an extensive period of time before marriage is put into consideration?"

Hikari tightened her grasp on his arm, " Yes, but our relationship has progressed so much since we first met. I mean, remember we hated each other when you first were enrolled in the academy?"

Drue nodded, "I don't know what happened there in that area, but yeah, we despised each other a lot."

"But after_ that_ incident, I realized my true feelings towards you and came to a conclusion."

"And what would that be?"

Hikari didn't utter a single word. Her face remained flushed, but she was also fondling with her silver hair between her thumb and index finger. She started swaying sideways and directed her attention to the floor. She also began inhaling and exhaling large breaths of air before she sighed.

"Other than my father and sister, you're one of the few people that are the most precious to me, and I….I….l-love y-you!" Hikari revealed. An intense blush coating her entire face.

Drue was utterly shocked and gasped. He averted her eyes and looked in the opposite directions- his head tilting down with his bangs enveloping his eyes.

"Drue….at least respond, will you?" Hikari said in a whisper.

"L-love? How can you love someone like me? I…..I" Drue trailed on, but stopped once he received a bear hug from Hikari.

"Come on, Drue. A girl confesses her feelings for you, and all you do is belittle yourself?! Be more elated, would you?" Hikari scolded as she puffed out her cheeks and lightly tapped his shoulder.

Drue groaned.

"Well? What about you?" Hikari asked.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to return the confession?" Hikari asked in a slightly agitated tone.

A blush crept on his cheeks, "F-fine. Hikari-chan, I….I l-"

"Oi, Drue-nii, Hikari-nee!" A young, high pitched voice beckoned. The two kids in question directed their attention to Hikari's younger sister, Yuuki, running to them along with Seo in her trail.

"Yuuki, Seo, what do you want?" Drue asked, slightly relieved that she interrupted.

Before she could reply, Yuuki tripped on her feet and fell over-subsequently sliding from the momentum of her previous pace.

Drue and Hikari sweat dropped at her clumsiness.

"She's definitely your sister." Drue remarked, receiving a devastating left hook to the head.

"I'm going to discard that remark!" Hikari said condescendingly.

Drue rubbed the side of his head as he knelt down to help Yuuki. The five-year-old staggered to her feet and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"You should be more careful, Yuuki. None of us want you to imitate your sister." Seo scolded.

"OI!" Hikari screamed as she waved her arms frantically in anger and offense. Seo chuckled at her actions momentarily before facing Drue.

"Bro, the master is looking for you."

"I know. Hikari here was kind enough to offer her company as she was 'escorting' me there." Drue said.

"Congratulations, but seriously, master requested your presence a while ago, and it's best not to test his patience. You should go see him immediately, and he told me after he's concluded his meeting with you, he wants the two of us to go down to the town and purchase some provisions." Seo informed. Drue nodded his head at the Ice Dragon Slayer in acknowledgment and began walking off.

"Wait, Drue-kun. You still have yet to tell me how you feel." Hikari whined as she extended her right arm out to him.

Drue flinched slightly and looked back, "Ah, well after dinner tonight, I'll tell you, alright."

Hikari sighed, "Fine, but you better make a delicious dinner to compensate for stalling."

Drue chuckled nervously, knowing she just ascertained his ploy.

"Onii-chan, can I come with you? I want to greet Tomo-san and Nova-san. I haven't seen them in a long time." Yuuki asked with a puppy face and eyes.

Drue looked up to Hikari. She smiled and nodded her head approvingly.

"Alright." Drue said. Yuuki jumped around exuberantly and clung to Drue's leg.

"Oi, Drue, master's waiting." Seo reminded.

"Okay, okay, I got it. There's no need to pester me." Drue said as he walked off. Seo sighed in grief and soon followed.

**The flashback then abruptly transitioned to later that same evening.**

The entire academy had sustained severe damage and the rooftops were engulfed in an inferno. Drue was crying profusely as he held Hikari's bleeding body. Her bodies natural reflexes were causing her limps- mainly her legs- to jolt, and her eyes accumulated a cloud coloration.

"Hikari…..Hikari, stay with me, please!" Drue begged as he began utilizing his healing magic.

"D-D-D-Drue-kun, it's p-pointless. My injuries are too s-severe. It's too late f-for me." Hikari croaked out.

"Don't talk like that! You'll survive! I promise!" Drue assured fruitlessly.

"Drue….I still….haven't heard your feelings yet. You s-still haven't told me."

"This isn't the time for that. We-"

"Drue, please." Hikari interrupted.

Drue grimaced as his tears not only coated his face, but began to soak her blood-stained kimono.

"Ah, H-Hikari…..I-" Drue stopped once he felt her body become limp.

"Hikari…..Hikari! Wake up!" Drue yelled as he shook her, but it was futile. She had passed on….with a frown on her features.

"Damnit! Damnit! DAMNIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!" Drue bellowed in agony.

* * *

_End of Flashback_

I was sobbing. Tears longed retrained by my conflicting emotions and years of maintaining a composed demeanor regarding her were now streaming down my face and dripping onto the picture.

"Hikari," I sniffled.

I heard the door to the entrance open. The room instantly became cool as the brisk sensation of the elements overwhelmed me.

"Yo, Drue." A familiar voice said. I looked over and saw Natsu-san standing in the doorway. I quickly wipe my tears away from my face and stood up.

"Natsu-san? What is it?"

"Nothing really. Just came to see if you've calmed down after your little cold outburst at the old couple. What's wrong, you like you've been crying." Natsu-san asked.

I sighed in slight embarrassment from looking like a pitiful child in front of my elder.

"Ah, just slightly. I was reminiscing some repressed memories of my friends." I said. He took notice of the picture in the books and placed his hand on it.

"Who are they?"

"They were really close friends of mine from four years ago."

"So that's Hikari?"

I clenched my fist in agitation.

"Yeah, that's her."

Natsu-san smiled slightly and walked over to me. He placed a –what I perceived to be comforting- hand on my shoulder and smiled sympathetically.

"Drue, I know how you feel. Lost in pain and despair at the loss of someone you cared deeply for." This caught my immediate attention.

"Two years ago, I lost a childhood friend named Lisanna. I'll mention she does resemble your friend tremendously. She died on a mission with Elfman and Mirajane."

"What happened?" I asked. His grip on my shoulder began piercing my skin slightly, but I ignored it.

"She was accidently killed by Elfamn," I gasped, "but it was an accident. In order to protect them, he absorbed a monstrous spirit, but it was beyond his capabilities. He could no longer rationalize and knew only how to destroy. Lisanna attempted to reason with him, but ultimately, it was futile."

"Why are you telling me this, Natsu-san?" I could recognize the pain in his face, yet he still possessed a warm smile. How is it he was capable of that?

"I'm telling you this to let you know you're not alone and you shouldn't isolate yourself from others. I almost attempted the same thing after she died, and I know I almost succumbed to the despair and sorrow, but something precious to me stopped that."

I narrowed my eyes in curiosity.

"My nakama. I knew that I would only make the situation worse and would increase the tension in the guild if I stayed that way. Lisanna had a gift for being the glistening symbol of happiness during times of distress for our guild. I wanted to continue living after her legacy. Also, Erza and Stripper were there for me."

I stayed silent. This whole "nakama" thing is a peculiar thing indeed. Even if it only appealed to a minor degree, Natsu-san understood what I was going through. I'll commend him for that.

He removed his hand and made his way for the exit.

"Oh, and one last thing. I want you to heed these words from our gramps: "No matter what amount of solitude an individual prefers, there is no one who can withstand it." He finished and embarked out of the cafeteria and down the mountain side.

I stood there. I just stood there. Unmoving from my spot while I processing his words.

It's evident that I underestimated him. I could never have grasped my mind around the idea that Natsu-san was capable of understanding painful emotions. I was under the impression he was nothing more than a barbaric idiot, but again, I was wrong.

I removed the picture in the books from the sleeve and placed it within my pocket. I left the book on the table and stood at the entrance. I seized one final glance at the room before closing the doors.

"Hopefully after everything has been settled, I can return here triumphant and at peace." I said and starting my descent down back to the nearby village.

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